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Absolute Surrender to Divine Providence, 



oh/' 

Rev. J. P. de^AUSSADE, S.J. 



REVISED AND CORRECTED BY 

Rev. H. RAMIERE, S.J. 
Translated from the Eighth French Edition 

BY 

,7 Miss ELLA McMAHON. 

New YnrT^^FmrrTrfTniTT) riffi St. Louis : 

BENZIGER BROTHERS, 

Printers to the Holy Apostolic See. 

R. WASHBOURNE, M. H. GILL & SON, 

18 Paternoster Row, London. 50 Upper O'Connell St., Dublin. 







XmjjrUrcatitr, 



* MICHAEL AUGUSTINE, 

ARCHBISHOP OF NEW YORK. 



New York, Feb. 15, 18! 




Copyright, 1887, by Benziger Brothers. 



A PREFACE 



FOUNDATION AND TRUE NATURE OF THE 
VIRTUE OF ABANDONMENT, 

TO EXPLAIN AND DEFEND 

Father Caussade's Doctrine. 



There is no truth however clear 
which does not become error the mo- 
ment it is lessened or exaggerated ; 
and there is no food however salutary 
for the soul which may not, when ill- 
applied, become a fatal poison. 

The virtue of abandonment does not 
escape this danger; the more holy and 
profitable it is in itself the more serious 
are the dangers we risk by misunder- 
standing its just limits. 

These dangers, unfortunately, are 
not mere possibilities. The seven- 
teenth century witnessed the birth of a 
heresy, — that of the Quietests, — which, 



4 Preface. 

while claiming to teach its followers 
perfect abandonment to God, led them 
into the most terrible disorders. For 
a time this sect wrought its ravages in 
the very capital of Catholicism, and put 
forth such specious sophistries that the 
pious Fenelon himself, while abhorring 
the practical consequences drawn from 
this teaching, was for a time misled by- 
its false appearance of perfection. 

To preserve Father Caussade's read- 
ers from these dangers, we think it well 
to add to these writings a succinct ex- 
position of the rules which should guide 
us in a matter so delicate. By the 
light of the principles jointly furnished 
us by reason and faith, we shall have 
no difficulty in determining the just 
limits which should mark our abandon- 
ment to divine Providence; and it will 
be easy for us afterwards to elucidate 
the points in our author's doctrine 
which might be wrongly interpreted. 



Father Caussade explains very clear- 
ly in his " Letters" the two principles 
which form the unalterable basis of the 
virtue of abandonment. 



Preface. 5 

First principle: Nothing is done, 
nothing happens, either in the material 
or in the moral world, which God has not 
foreseen from all eternity, and which He 
has not willed, or at least permitted. 

Second principle : God can will 
nothing, He can permit nothing, but in 
view of the end He proposed to Him- 
self in creating the world ; i.e., in view 
of His glory and the glory of the Man- 
God, Jesus Christ, His only Son. 

To these two principles laid down by 
our author we shall add a third, which 
will complete the elucidation of this 
whole subject: As long as man lives 
upon earth, God desires to be glorified 
through the happiness of this privileged 
creature; and consequently in God's de- 
signs the interest of man's sanctification 
and happiness is inseparable from the 
interest of the divine glory. 

If we do not lose sight of these prin- 
ciples, which no Christian can question, 
we shall understand that our confidence 
in the Providence of our Father in 
heaven cannot be too great, too abso- 
lute, too child-like. If nothing but 
what He permits happens, and if 
He can permit nothing but what 



6 Preface. 

is for our happiness, then we have 
nothing to fear, except not being 
sufficiently submissive to God. As 
long as we keep ourselves united with 
Him and we walk after His designs, 
were all creatures to turn against us 
they could not harm us. He who re- 
lies upon God becomes by this very re- 
liance as powerful and as invincible as 
God, and created powers can no more 
prevail against him than against God 
Himself. 

This confidence in the fatherly provi- 
dence of God gannot, evidently, dis- 
pense us from doing all that is in our 
power to accomplish His designs; but 
after having done all that depends 
upon our efforts we will abandon our- 
selves completely to God for the rest. 

This abandonment should extend, in 
face, to everything — to the past, to the 
present, to the future; to the body and 
all its conditions; to the soul and all 
its miseries, as well as all its qualities; 
to blessings; to afflictions ; to the good 
will of men, and to their malice; to the 
vicissitudes of the material, and the 
revolutions of the moral, world; to life 
and to death; to time and to eternity. 



Preface, 7 

However, as these different orders of 
things do not enter in the same manner 
in the designs of divine Providence, 
neither should our abandonment in re- 
gard to these be practised in the same 
manner; and the rules which we should 
follow in the practice of this virtue 
should be founded on the nature itself 
of the objects which call it forth. We 
shall indicate the principal ones. 

I. Among all the dispositions to which 
our abandonment can be applied, there 
are first, those which depend solely 
upon God, where human liberty has no 
part either in producing or averting 
them. Such are, for example, certain 
scourges, and vicissitudes of the atmos- 
phere; certain accidents impossible to 
foresee, certain natural defects of body 
or soul. 

In regard to facts of this order, 
(whether of the past, present, or future, 
'it is evident that our abandonment 
cannot be too absolute. 

There is nothing to do here but to 
passively and lovingly endure all that 
Godsends us; to blindly accept in ad- 
vance all that it may please Him to send 
us in the future. Resistance would be 



8 Preface. 

useless, and only serve to make us un- 
happy ; a loving and frequently re- 
newed acceptance, on the contrary, 
would make these inevitable sufferings 
very meritorious. And oh, the marvels 
of God's goodness ! Our abandonment 
will not only sanctify and fructify real 
trials; it will enable us to derive great 
merit from trials to which we shall 
never be subjected. For, if we loving- 
ly accept these trials when they present 
themselves to our minds as probable, 
or simply possible, this willing acquies- 
cence, thisjfrz/uttered in the depths of the 
heart, cannot fail to please God, and be 
very useful to our souls. Therefore, in 
regard to this first order of events, the 
practice of abandonment cannot but be 
very sanctifying, as it changes into 
means of sanctification not only real 
but even purely imaginary trials. 

II. There are other sufferings which 
come to us through the malice of creat- 
ures: persecutions, calumnies, ill-treat- 
ment, neglect, injustice, and offences of 
every kind. What are we to do when 
we find ourselves exposed to vexatious 
things of this sort ? 



Preface. g 

ist. We evidently cannot like the of- 
fence against God with which they are 
accompanied; we should, on the con- 
trary, deplore and detest it, not because 
it wounds our self-love, but because it 
is an offence against the divine rights, 
and compromises the salvation of the 
offending souls. 

2d. As for that which concerns us, on 
the contrary, we should regard as a bless- 
ing that which is in itself an evil; and to 
do this we need only recall the princi- 
ples previously laid down: not to look 
only at the creature who is the immedi- 
ate cause of our sufferings, but to raise 
our eyes higher and behold God, who 
has foreseen and permitted them from 
all eternity, and who in permitting 
them had only our happiness in view. 
This thought will be sufficient to dissi- 
pate the bitterness and trouble which 
would take possession of our hearts 
were we to look only at the injustice of 
which we are the victims. 

3d. In regard to the effects of this 
injustice already consummated and ir- 
reparable, we have only to resign our- 
selves as lovingly as possible, and care- 
fully gather their precious fruits. It is 



io Preface. 

frequently not difficult to divine the 
spiritual fruits God destined for us in 
exposing us to temporal evils: to detach 
us from creatures; to deliver us from 
inordinate affections, from our pride, 
from our tepidity, — veritable maladies. 
of the soul, frequently all the more 
dangerous that they are less perceptible, 
and of which the heavenly Physician 
wishes to cure us, using the malice of 
our neighbor as a sharp instrument. 
We do not hesitate to endure much 
greater sufferings to be delivered from 
corporal infirmities; then let us grate- 
fully accept the spiritual health, in- 
finitely more precious, which God offers 
us, however disagreeable the instru- 
ment through which He gives it to us. 
4th. If it is in our power to avert the 
consequences of malice and injustice, 
and if in our true interest, and in the in- 
terest of the divine glory, we deem it 
necessary to take any measures to this" 
end, let us do so without departing 
from the practice of the holy virtue of 
abandonment. Let us commit the suc- 
cess of our efforts to God, and be ready 
to accept failure if God judges it 
more suitable to His designs and more 



Preface, it 

profitable to our souls. We are so 
blind that we always have reason to 
fear being deceived; but God cannot be 
deceived, and we may be certain, in 
advance, that what He determines will 
be best. Therefore we cannot do 
better than abandon with fullest confi- 
dence the result of our efforts to Him. 

III. But should this abandonment 
extend equally to our acts of impru- 
dence, to our faults, and all the annoy- 
ances of every kind in which they may 
result ? 

It is important to distinguish here 
two things which self-love tends to con- 
found. In the fault itself we must dis- 
tinguish what is culpable and what is 
humiliating. Likewise in its conse- 
quences we must distinguish what is 
detrimental to the divine glory and the 
confusion inflicted on our self-love. 
Evidently we cannot hate too much the 
fault, properly so called, nor regret too 
keenly the injury done to the divine 
glory. But as for our humiliation, and 
the confusion inflicted on our self-love, 
we should rejoice, and acquiesce in it 
with complete abandonment. This 



1 2 Preface. 

kind of sacrifice is undoubtedly the 
best fitted to destroy in us the most 
secret fibres of self-love, and to cause 
us to make rapid progress in virtue. 
To souls who have attained a certain 
degree of regularity and detachment, 
exterior humiliations are very little. 
When we have learned the vanity of 
human glory, we easily endure the 
sting of contempt; but we may still 
unite with this exterior detachment 
great attachment to our own esteem 
and approbation, and a wholly egotisti- 
cal desire of perfection. In this case, 
self-love, by changing its object, would 
only become more subtle and more 
dangerous. To destroy it, there is no 
remedy more efficacious than the hu- 
miliation resulting from our faults; and 
we cannot, consequently, strive too ear- 
nestly to apply the practice of abandon- 
ment to this humiliation, endeavoring 
at the same time to correct the faults 
themselves. 

And what we say of faults of the past 
applies equally to faults of the future. 
The practice of abandonment well un- 
derstood should deliver us from that 
impatience which makes us wish to at 



Preface. 13 

once attain the summit of perfection, 
and which only serves to keep us from 
it by turning us from the only path 
which leads to perfection. This path 
is humility, and the impatience which 
we are censuring is only another form 
of pride. Let us make every effort to 
correct our faults; but let us be re- 
signed to not seeing them all disappear 
in a day. Let us earnestly, and with 
the most filial confidence, ask God to 
grant us that decisive grace which will 
completely wrest us from ourselves, to 
make us live only in Him; but let us 
leave to Him, with an equally filial 
abandonment, the care of determining 
the day and hour in which this grace 
shall be given us. 

With still greater reason should we 
abandon to God the determining of the 
degree of sanctity which we shall attain 
upon earth, the extraordinary graces 
which will accompany this sanctity here 
below, and the glory with which it will 
be crowned in heaven. In as far as it 
depends upon us, we should leave 
nothing undone to increase this sanc- 
tity and this glory, in order not to fall 
short of the degree God has marked 



14 Preface. 

for us; but if we must earnestly devote 
ourselves to realizing His designs, we 
must not desire to have them other 
than they are. If our love for God is 
what it should be, we will thank Him 
for having granted other souls favors 
that He has refused us, and we will 
praise Him no less for our poverty than 
for our riches. 

IV. Should our abandonment go still 
farther ? Should we, in view of the 
hypothesis — perfectly possible, alas! — 
of our damnation, resign ourselves 
thereto, and thus make to God the 
complete and absolute sacrifice of all 
our own interests? 

To this point would Fenelon have 
carried the purity of love and the per- 
fection of abandonment ; and he did 
not lack plausible motives with which to 
support this doctrine. He drew from 
the example and the writings of the 
Saints arguments still more specious 
to prove that God frequently requires 
this complete sacrifice of elect souls; 
and that to obtain it He impresses 
them with an irresistible conviction of 
their eternal loss. According to this 



Preface. 15 

great prelate, divine love is only per- 
fect in souls who have gone through 
this trial without faltering, and who by 
a sacrifice have renounced, at least hy- 
pothetically, all their own interest, even 
that of their eternal salvation. 

But the Church has condemned this 
doctrine which, in proposing to man a 
perfection contrary to his nature, re- 
verses the order of God's designs. 
How, in fact, can perfection consist in 
destroying the most essential law of 
our moral nature, viz., that irresistible 
inclination which leads us to seek our 
happiness? How. could love of God 
require that we rob God of one of His 
attributes — the one which makes Him 
the supreme object of our beatitude? 
How could one of the theological 
virtues be contrary to another, and 
charity exclude hope ? What is eternal 
happiness if not the eternal reign of 
pure love ? and how could the pure love 
of time consist in excluding, even hy- 
pothetically, from our desires the pure 
love of eternity ? 

That which perfect abandonment 
asks is that we observe in our desires 
the order of God's designs. God 



1 6 Preface. 

created all things for His glory first; 
and secondly, but inseparably, for our 
happiness. Let us do as He does: let 
us never separate the interest of His 
glory from that of our happiness, but 
let us always make the second subordi- 
nate to the first. Let us love God as the 
object of our beatitude, but let us love 
Him above all for His infinite good- 
ness. Let us desire and hope for our 
eternal happiness; but since this hap- 
piness, when we shall enjoy it, must re- 
sult from the love of God for Himself, 
let us begin now to seek it as it must 
be when we realize it, and refer the de- 
sire of it, as we will one day refer its 
enjoyment, to the glory of this great 
God who desires to be all in all things. 

Thus, at one and the same time, we 
can practise charity and hope, seek the 
glory of God and our own happiness, 
fill the designs of our Creator, and 
satisfy the deepest and most imperative 
needs of our nature. 

The saints did not do otherwise; and 
Father Caussade, in one of his letters, 
proves very clearly that the formulas 
of apparent despair that they have 
sometimes used in the transports of 



Preface. 1 7 

their cruel sufferings contained in 
reality acts of the most meritorious 
confidence. Elsewhere he also shows 
most perfectly how ill-founded is this 
even hypothetic separation between 
God's interests and our true interests; 
and he justly concludes therefrom that 
perfection cannot consist in supposing 
this separation and sacrificing the in- 
terest of our eternal happiness to that 
of the divine glory. 



We have no reason, therefore, to fear 
that in reading Father Caussade's trea- 
tise we are liable to confound, at least 
in this respect, the abandonment he 
recommends with the Quietism con- 
demned in Fenelon. 

Is our author equally irreproachable 
in all the other points of his doctrine ? 
Might he not be accused of turning his 
readers from duties which require la- 
bor and effort to keep them in an indo- 
lent repose ? 

There would be ground for this re- 
proach if Father Caussade promised 
to give his readers a complete treatise 
on Christian and religious perfection; 



1 8 Preface. 

but this he does not do. He ad- 
dresses himself to souls already ad- 
vanced in virtue and accustomed not 
only to faithfully fulfil the essential 
precepts of Christianity, but also to ob- 
serve the prescriptions of religious dis- 
cipline. Like the young man in the 
Gospel who from his youth had kept 
the commandments, and who begged 
our Saviour to show him a higher per- 
fection, these souls ask Father Caussade 
what they must do to sanctify them- 
selves after having accomplished all 
the duties imposed upon their free 
will. The man of God answers them 
like our Saviour: If you would be per- 
fect, rid yourself of all that may still 
cling to you of attachment to your own 
interests, your own ideas, your own 
will, and abandon yourself completely 
to God. Practise the virtue of aban- 
donment; practise it so habitually that 
it will become the constant state of 
your soul: thus you will cease to live 
to yourself, to live only in God. 

This is a. summary of the book we are 
re-editing to-day. To understand it we 
must bear in mind, as we read it, the 
situation of the author, and that of the 



Preface. 1 9 

souls to whom his counsels are ad- 
dressed; viz., that it is not, as we have al- 
ready said, a complete treatise of Chris- 
tian perfection which he has claimed 
to write; his only object was to set 
forth the advantages of a special virtue 
and a particular state. It is true that 
this virtue is one of the most essential 
bases of sanctity, and that this state is 
sanctity itself as far as it is attainable 
on earth. But it is no less true that 
Father Caussade had no idea whatever 
of telling all Christians what they 
should do to save their souls. There- 
fore it would be a serious mistake to 
believe ourselves dispensed from all 
duties of which he makes no mention, 
in order to devote ourselves only to 
this great duty of abandonment, the 
importance of which he so justly and 
eloquently portrays. 

To avoid this dangerous error, and 
reap all the profit of this true and very 
consoling doctrine of Father Caussade, 
it will be sufficient to cast a general 
glance over the divine economy in the 
salvation of souls, and to see what place 
abandonment to divine Providence oc- 
cupies in this great work. 



20 Pj-eface. 

We all know that sanctification is a 
work both divine and human. It is 
divine through its immediate principle, 
the Holy Spirit; through its meritorious 
cause, the Incarnation and the death of 
the Son of God; through its end, the 
happiness of the Holy Trinity, in which 
holy souls are to participate for all 
eternity ; finally, through its chief means, 
the teachings and the graces of Jesus 
Christ transmitted to men through the 
Church. 

But this work is human also, since 
the graces of the Holy Spirit, the merits 
of the Son of God, the designs of the 
Holy Trinity, and all the efforts of 
Providence can bear fruit in a soul only 
as far as she freely co-operates with 
them. 

This co-operation in our sanctification 
which God requires of us is composed 
of three parts. 

It consists first of all in the destruc- 
tion of everything in our corrupt na- 
ture which is an obstacle to the divine 
action: sins, vices, sensible inclinations, 
defects, imperfections. This first labor 
is what the masters of the spiritual life 
call the purgative way. It is accom- 



Preface. 2 1 

plished by examinations of conscience, 
works of penance and mortification, 
and the various practices in use in the 
Church. 

The second part of the labor which 
God imposes on the soul desirous to 
attain sanctity is less painful, and 
easier. It is what is called the illumina- 
tive way. The soul that God introduces 
therein exercises herself in producing 
the interior acts of virtue with which 
grace inspires her, and in practicing 
the good works to which this same 
grace impels her. 

Finally, when the obstacles are re- 
moved and the soul's preparation is 
completed, God unites Himself to her, 
fills her with His grace, inflames her 
with His love, and uses her as a docile 
instrument for the accomplishment of 
His designs: this is the unitive way. 

But let us not misapprehend this 
condition. Even in this perfect state in 
which God is fully master of His 
reasonable creature, He does not act in 
her without her co-operation; He re- 
quires of her great fidelity in avoiding 
the smallest faults, great vigilance over 
her affections, great generosity in deny- 



2 2 Preface. 

ing herself in all things, great fervor 
in prayer. So far from dispensing her 
from the works of the illuminative way 
by which she prepared herself for the 
divine union, He causes her to accom- 
plish them with greater perfection and 
merit. 

Among these works common to the 
two ways of which we have just spoken, 
there are some which are strictly of ob- 
ligation, either because they are pre- 
scribed to all Christians by the com- 
mandments of God and the Church, or 
because they are imposed on each one 
by the special circumstances of his state. 
There are others which are simply of 
counsel, or even purely of supereroga- 
tion, and which each one embraces ac- 
cording to his more or less ardent de- 
sire of sanctification. In the same way, 
among the works of penance which 
form the purgative way there are some 
from which no one can dispense him- 
self ; but there are others which, with- 
out being of absolute necessity, are 
more or less useful, or even relatively 
necessary to certain souls, because of 
their particular position, and the vio- 



Preface. 23 

lence of the inclinations which impel 
them to evil. 

Such is man's threefold part in the 
beginning, progress, and consummation 
of the eminently divine work of sancti- 
fication — a part essentially active, and 
so necessary that without it God's part 
would be hopelessly sterile. Father 
Caussade, however, says very little of 
it in his book. Does he doubt its im- 
mense importance and absolute neces- 
sity ? Far from it. On the contrary, in 
many passages he is careful to warn 
us that the fiassiveness which he recom- 
mends to the soul in no way dispenses 
her from the very active accomplish- 
ment of all that is duty, whether general 
or special. He adds that the souls who 
walk in the ordinary ways should not 
dispense themselves from the practices 
of supererogation in use in the Church 
among pious persons, and from follow- 
ing the rules traced by the masters of 
the spiritual life. Even upon persons 
who have reached the passive state he 
imposes the obligation of actively fol- 
lowing the inspirations of grace when 
they lead to action, and of doing all to 
which they are impelled by grace. 



24 Preface. 

Why, then, after making these reser- 
vations in some parts of his work does 
he seem to forget them, to solely extol 
the advantages of abandonment to the 
' divine action ? We have already said 
why: because the souls to whom he 
addressed himself, long exercised in the 
practice of active virtue, had special 
need to perfect themselves in this pas- 
sive abandonment. 

How many such souls there are in 
religious communities, or even in the 
midst of the world, who have no need 
to be urged to activity in the pursuit of 
sanctity, but who, on the contrary, need 
above all things to learn to let God act 
in them ! Father Caussade addresses 
himself specially to these souls. Had 
his book no other result than to en- 
lighten them upon God's real designs 
concerning them, to deliver them from 
their disquieting agitation in order to in- 
troduce them into abroad and peaceful 
path, and enable them to find powerful 
means of salvation in unfortutious 
events which they regard as obstacles, 
we should still believe that in offering 
this work to them we are doing them 
an eminent service. 



Preface. 25 

But the salutary teaching of this book 
is not limited to a special class of 
persons. Though written specially for 
souls who have already attained a high 
degree of perfection, the doctrine it 
develops is suited to all Christians. It 
makes it clear to all that if God does 
not dispense them from laboring ac- 
tively for their salvation, He takes upon 
Himself the greatest part of this work; 
that He unceasingly labors thereon; 
that He employs all creatures and all 
events to further it; and that if they 
will only permit Him to do His will, — 
without doing any more than they are 
doing, without suffering any more than 
they are suffering, but only by recog- 
nizing and loving God's action in things 
which He obliges them to do and suf- 
fer, they will amass infinite merits and 
attain great perfection. 

Thus Father Caussade does not sup- 
press our active co-operation in the 
work of our sanctiflcation, but he 
teaches us to profit much better than we 
do of God's part therein, by abandon- 
ing ourselves more to Him. In events 
where too frequently we see only mis- 
fortunes, because we regard them as 



26 Preface. 

more or less reprehensible effects of the 
malice or the imperfection of creatures, 
he teaches us to see the divine love 
using these same creatures as instru- 
ments either to correct our vices or to 
cause us to practise virtue. Therefore 
he changes the principal obstacles to 
the success of this great work into 
means of sanctification, and teaches us 
the art of changing creatures the 
most indifferent or the most hostile into 
powerful auxiliaries. With good rea- 
son does he desire to be able to incul- 
cate this doctrine in men of all condi- 
tions; forthere is no doubt that, if they 
understood it well, sanctity would seem 
to them much more attainable; and that, 
seeing God laboring unceasingly upon 
this work, they would fulfil with much 
greater courage the duties imposed 
upon their free will. 

H. Ramiere, SJ. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Preface by Rev. H. Ramiere, S.J 3 

BOOK FIRST. 

OF THE NA TURE AND EXCELLENCE OF THE 
VI R THE OF HOL Y ABA NDONMENT. 

CHAPTER 

I. The sanctity of the righteous of the Old Law, 
and of Joseph and of Mary herself, consisted 

in fidelity to the order of God 31 

II. The duties of each moment are the shadows 

which veil the divine action 33 

III. How much easier sanctity becomes when 

studied from this point of view 36 

IV. Perfection does not consist in knowing the 

order of God, but in submitting to it 42 

V. Reading and other exercises only sanctify us 
in so far as they are^ the channels of the 

divine action 44 

VI. The mind and other human means are useful 
only in so far as they are the instruments of 

the divine action 49 

VII. There is no enduring peace but in submission 

to the divine action 52 

VIII. The perfection of souls and the excellence of 
different states are in proportion to their con- 
formity to the order of God 54 

IX. All the riches of grace are the fruit of purity of 

heart and perfect self-abandonment 62 



28 Contents. 



BOOK SECOND. 

THE DIVINE ACTION AND THE MANNER IN 
WHICH IT UNCEASINGLY WORKS THE 
SANCTIFICA TION OF SOULS. 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The divine action is everywhere and always 
present, though only visible to the eye of 

Faith 69 

II. The divine action is all the more visible to the 
eye of Faith when hidden under appearances 
most repugnant to the senses 74 

III. The divine action offers us at each moment 

infinite blessings which we receive in propor- 
tion to our faith and love 79 

IV. God reveals Himself to us as mysteriously, as 

adorably, and with as much reality in the 
most ordinary events as in the great events of 

history and the Holy Scriptures 82 

V. The divine action continues in our hearts the 
revelation begun in Holy Scripture; but the 
characters in which it is written will be only 
visible at the last day 86 

VI. Divine love is communicated to us through 
the veil of creatures, as Jesus communicates 
Himself to us through the veil of the Eucha- 

ristic species 92 

VII. The divine action, the will of God, is as un- 
worthily treated and disregarded, in its daily 
manifestation, by many Christians, as was 

Jesus in the flesh by the Jews 94 

VIII. The revelation of the present moment is the 
more profitable that it is addressed directly 
to us 97 

IX. The revelation of the present moment is an in- 
exhaustible source of sanctity 99 

X. The present moment is the manifestation of the 
name of God and the coming of His king- 
dom 101 

XI. The divine will imparts the highest sanctity 
to souls; they have but to abandon them- 
selves to its divine action 100 

XII. The divine action alone can sanctify us, for 
it forms us after the divine Model of our per- 
fection 114 



Contents. 



BOOK THIRD. 

THE PATERNAL CARE WITH WHICH GOD 
SURROUNDS SOULS WHOLLY ABANDONED 

TO HIM. 

CHAPTER. PAGE 

I. God Himself guides souls who wholly aban- 
don themselves to Him 119 

II. The more God seems to withdraw light from 
the soul aDandoned to His direction, the more 
safely He guides her 125 

III. The afflictions with which God visits the soul 

are but loving artifices at which she will one 
day rejoice 129 

IV. The more God seems to take from a soul wholly 

abandoned to Him, the more generous He is 

to her 133 

V. The less capable the faithful soul is of defend- 
ing herself, the more powerfully does God 
defend her 136 

VI. The soul abandoned to the will of God, so far 
from resisting its enemies, finds in them use- 
ful auxiliaries 140 

VII. The soul that abandons itself to God has no 
need to justify herself by words or actions; 
the divine action abundantly justifies her. . . . 142 
VIII. God gives life to the soul abandoned to Him 
by means which apparently lead only to 
death 144 

IX. Love holds the place of all things to souls who 

walk in the way of abandonment 149 

X. The faithful soul finds in submission to the will 
of God more force and strength than the 
proudest of those who resist Him 154 

XL The soul abandoned to God learns to recognize 
His will, even in the proud who resist Him. 
All creatures, whether good or evil, reveal 

Him to her 158 

XII. God assures to faithful souls a glorious victory 

over the powers of earth and hell 160- 



30 Contents. 

APPENDIX. 

PAGE 

I. A very easy means of acquiring peace of heart, 

by Fr. Surin 165 

II. On perfect abandonment, by Bossuet 172 

III. A short and easy method of making the prayer 

of faith, and of the simple presence of God, 
by Bossuet 173 

IV. Exercise of loving union of our will with that 

of God, by St. Francis de Sales 185 

V. Acts of abandonment..... .............. 188 



$0ok first. 

The Nature and Excellence of the Virtue 
of Holy Abandonment. 

CHAPTER I. 

The Sanctity of the Righteous of the Old 
Law, and of Joseph and of Mary herself, 
consisted in Fidelity to the Order of God. 

God speaks to-day as He spoke to our 
fathers, when directors were not so nu- 
merous, nor methods of direction so well 
denned. All their spirituality consisted 
in simple fidelity to the orderof God;but 
it was not reduced to a science which 
explained it so sublimely or minutely, 
or contained so many precepts, so many 
maxims, so much instruction. Our 
present wants, no doubt, require this 
explanation. It was not so in the first 
ages of the Church, when men were 
more simple and upright. Each moment 
brought a duty to be faithfully ful- 
filled : this was sufficient for interior 



32 Holy Abandonment 

souls of that day. Their whole atten- 
tion was concentrated simply upon the 
duty of each successive moment with 
the fidelity of the hour-hand of a clock 
which steadily traverses stroke by stroke 
the circle in which it is appointed to 
move. The mind, unceasingly moved 
by divine grace, turned insensibly to 
the new duty which presented itself in 
the order of God every hour. Such 
were the hidden springs of Mary's life, 
the most perfect example of simple and 
absolute self-abandonment to the will 
of God. The simple words, Fiat mihi 
secundum verbum tuuni, with which she 
was content to answer the angel, ex- 
pressed all the mystic theology of the 
ancients. Then, as now, it was all re- 
duced to the simplest and most abso- 
lute abandonment of the soul to the 
will of God under whatever form it 
manifested itself. This noble and ex-" 
alted disposition, the basis of all Mary's 
spirituality, is brilliantly manifested in 
the words Fiat mihi. Observe how per- 
fectly they accord with those which 
our Lord would have ever on our lips 
and in our hearts: Fiat voluntas tua. 
True, the duty required of Mary at 



The Divine Action Overshadowed. 33 

that supreme moment was a glorious 
one for her. But all the splendor of 
that glory would have made no impres- 
sion upon her if the divine Will, alone 
capable of influencing her, had not ar- 
rested her attention. It was this divine 
will which guided her in everything. 
Her occupations, whether ordinary or 
exalted, were in her eyes but shadows 
more or less obscure in which she found 
equal means of glorifying God and re- 
cognizing the workings of the Almighty. 
She joyfully accepted the duty or suf- 
fering of each moment as a gift from 
Him who fills with good things the 
hearts which are nourished by Him 
alone, and not by appearances or 
created things. 



CHAPTER II. 

The Duties of each Moment are the Shadows 
which veil the Divine Action. 

" The power of the Most High shall 
overshadow thee," said the angel to 
Mary. 

This shadow, behind which the power 



34 Holy Abandonment. 

of God effects the entrance and growth 
of Jesus Christ in our souls, is the form 
assumed by the duties, attractions, and 
crosses of each moment. 

They are in truth but shadows like 
those to which we give the name in 
the order of nature, and which envelop 
sensible objects and hide them from 
our view. Thus in the moral and su- 
pernatural order the duties of each 
moment under their obscure appear- 
ances conceal the truth of the divine 
will, which alone merits our atten- 
tion. Thus Mary regarded them. 
Therefore these shadows passing be- 
fore her senses, so far from deceiving 
her, filled her with faith in Him who is 
always the same. Withdraw, Arch- 
angel ; thy moment passes ; thou van- 
ishest. Mary passes beyond thee; she 
is ever in advance ; but the Holy Ghost, 
with whom she has been filled through 
the sensible appearances of thy mis- 
sion, will never abandon her. 

There are few extraordinary events 
in the exterior life of Mary. At least 
it is not to these that Holy Scripture 
calls our attention. Her exterior life 
is represented as very simple, very or- 



The Divine Action Overshadowed. 35 

dinary. She did and suffered as did 
others of her condition. She goes to 
visit her cousin Elizabeth : the other 
relatives go also. She retires to a 
stable : it is a consequence of her pover- 
ty. She returns to Nazareth : the per- 
secution of Herod had driven her forth. 
Jesus and Joseph lived there with her, 
by the labor of their hands. Behold 
the daily bread of the holy family ! 
But with what bread was the faith of 
Mary and Joseph nourished ? What 
was the sacrament of all their sacred 
moments ? What did they discover 
under the ordinary appearance of the 
events which filled their lives? Ex- 
teriorly, nothing more than was hap- 
pening to the rest of mankind ; inte- 
riorly, faith discovers and develops 
nothing less than God working great 
things. O bread of angels ! Heavenly 
manna! Pearl of the Gospel ! Sacra- 
ment of the present moment ! Thou 
givest God under appearances as poor 
and mean as the manger, the hay, and 
the straw ! But to whom dost thou 
give Him ? Esurientes reples bonis. God 
reveals Himself to the humble in little 
things ; and the proud, regarding only 



$6 Holy Abandonment 

the exterior, find Him not even in 
great things. 



CHAPTER III. 

How much Easier Sanctity becomes when 
studied from this Point of View. 

If the work of our salvation offers 
obstacles apparently so insurmountable, 
it is because we have not a just idea of 
it. In truth, sanctity consists in but 
one thing — fidelity to the order of God; 
and this fidelity is equally within the 
reach of all, whether in its active or in 
its passive part. 

The active part of fidelity consists in 
fulfilling the duties imposed upon us 
either by the general commands of God 
and the Church, or by the particular 
state we have embraced. 

Its passive part consists in lovingly 
accepting all that God sends us each 
moment. 

Which of these two parts of sanctity 
is above our strength ? Not the active 
part, since the duties it enjoins cease to 
be duties for us the moment our strength 
is really unequal to them. Will not the 



How Sanctity may be made Easier. 37 

state of your health permit you to hear 
Mass ? You are no longer obliged to 
do so. And so it is with all positive 
obligations which prescribe duties to 
be fulfilled. Only those precepts which 
• forbid things evil in themselves admit 
of no exception, for it is never permitted 
to do evil. 

Is there anything easier or more rea- 
sonable ? What excuse can be urged 
against it ? Yet this is all the co-opera- 
tion God requires of the soul in the 
work of its sanctification. 

He requires it of great and small, of 
strong and weak ; in a word, of all, at 
all times, in all places. 

Therefore He only requires of us 
what is easy, since to attain eminent 
sanctity requires but a simple good- 
will. 

If over and above the commandments 
He shows us the counsels as the more 
perfect end of our efforts, He is ever 
careful to accommodate their observ- 
ance to our position and character. As 
the chief mark of our vocation for the 
counsels He sends us the attractions 
and graces which facilitate the practice 
of them. He urges no one but in pro- 



38 Holy Abandonment. 

portion to his strength and according 
to his attainments. Again I ask, what 
could be more just? 

O you who aspire to perfection and 
are tempted to discouragement by what 
you read in the lives of the saints and 
find prescribed in certain pious books! 
O you who are overwhelmed by the 
terrible ideas that you form of perfec- 
tion! It is for your consolation that 
God permits that I write this. 

Learn what you seem not to know. 

In the order of nature, necessary 
things, as air, water, earth, the God of 
all goodness has made common and 
easy of attainment. Nothing is more 
necessary than breath, sleep, food, and 
nothing is more common. Love and 
fidelity are no less necessary in the 
spiritual order; therefore the difficulty 
of acquiring them cannot be as great 
as you represent it to yourselves. 

Observe your life; of what does it 
consist? Of a multitude of unimpor- 
tant actions. Yet with these same un- 
important actions God deigns to be 
content. This is the co-operation re- 
quired of the soul in the work of its 
perfection. God Himself expresses it 



How Sanctity may be made Easier. 39 

too clearly to admit of doubt: "Fear 
God, and keep His commandments: for 
this is all man" (Eccles. xii. 13). That 
is to say, this is all that is required on 
man's part; in this consists his active 
fidelity. Let him fulfil his part; God 
will do the rest. Grace, working by 
itself, effects marvels which surpass the 
intelligence of man. For ear has not 
heard, eye has not seen, heart has not 
felt, what God conceives in His mind, 
resolves in His will, executes by His 
power in souls wholly abandoned to 
Him. 

The passive part of sanctity is still 
easier, since it consists in accepting 
what very often we cannot avoid, and 
bearing with love, that is, with consola- 
tion and sweetness, what we too fre- 
quently endure with weariness and irri- 
tation. Again let me repeat, herein 
lies all sanctity. It is the grain of 
mustard-seed the fruits of which we 
do not gather, because we fail to recog- 
nize it in its littleness. It is the drachma 
of the Gospel, the treasure which we do 
not find, do not seek, because we imag- 
ine it too far beyond us. 

Ask me not the secret of finding this 



4o Holy Abandonment. 

treasure, for secret there is none. This 
treasure is everywhere; it is offered to 
all, at all times, in all places. 

Through creatures, friends, and en- 
emies it flows plentifully; it flows over 
the faculties of our bodies, of our souls, 
and into the very centre of our heans. 
Let us but open our mouths and they 
will be filled. The divine action floods 
the universe; it penetrates all crea- 
tures; it floats above them, about them; 
it is ever present with them; it precedes 
them; it accompanies them; it follows 
them, and they have but to allow them- 
selves to be borne onward on its tide. 

Would to God kings and their minis- 
ters, princes of the Church and of the 
w T orld, priests, soldiers, peasants, labor- 
ers, in a word, all men, knew how easily 
they can attain eminent sanctity! They 
have but to fulfil the simple duties of 
religion and their state in life, and bear 
with submission the crosses these duties 
bring, and accept with faith and love 
the work and suffering which unsought 
and unceasingly come to them through 
the order of Providence. This is the 
spirituality which sanctified the patri- 
archs and prophets before there were 



How Sanctity may be made Easier. 41 

so many methods and so many masters 
in the spiritual life.* 

This is the spirituality of all ages and 
of all states, which cannot be more 
surely sanctified, or in a manner more 
noble, more extraordinary, more easy, 
than by the simple use of that which 
God, the Sovereign Director of souls, 
gives them each moment to do or suffer. 

* It would be a gross misapprehension of the 
author's words to suppose that he wishes to urge 
souls to enter the paths of the spiritual life with- 
out a director. He himself expressly states else- 
where that to be able to do without a director, 
one must have been long and skilfully directed. 
Still less does he wish to discourage the prac- 
tices adopted by the Church for the extirpation 
of vice and the acquisition of virtue. What he 
desires to say, and what we cannot impress too 
much upon Christians, is that the first of all 
directions is the guidance of Providence, and 
that the most necessary and the most perfect 
of all practices is the faithful accomplishment 
and loving acceptance of all that this fatherly 
Providence sends us to do and suffer, 



42 Holy Abandonment. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Perfection does not consist in knowing the 
Order of God, but in submitting to it. 

The order of God, the good pleasure 
of God, the will of God, the action of 
God, the grace of God, all these are 
one and the same thing in this life. It 
is God laboring to render the soul like 
unto Him. Perfection is nothing but 
the soul's faithful co-operation in this 
labor of God. This work is silently 
effected in our souls, where it thrives, 
increases, and is consummated uncon- 
sciously to ourselves. 

Theology is full of conceptions and 
expressions which explain the wonders 
of this work effected in individual souls 
according to their capacity. 

We may know all the theory of this 
work, admirably write and speak there- 
on, and instruct and direct souls; but 
if our knowledge be only theoretical, 
then I say that in comparison with 
souls which live and act by the order of 
God and are guided by His divine will, 
though ignorant of the theory of its 



Nature of Perfection. 43 

operations or its different effects, and 
unable to speak thereof, we are like a 
sick physician compared to ordinary 
persons in perfect health. 

The order of God, His divine will, 
received with simplicity by a faithful 
soul, effects this divine work in her un- 
consciously to herself, just as a remedy 
submissively taken restores the health 
of a sick man, although he have not, 
and need not have, any knowledge of 
medicine. 

It is the fire which warms us, and not 
the philosophical knowledge of the ele- 
ment and its effects; so it is the order 
of God, His divine will, and not the 
curious speculation on its principles 
and its methods, which produces the 
sanctification of our souls. 

If we thirst, we must drink; theoreti- 
cal explanations will not quench our 
thirst. Curiosity for knowledge only 
makes us thirst still more. Therefore, 
if we thirst for sanctification, curious 
speculations only keep us farther from 
it. We must abandon all theories and 
drink in simplicity of all that the will 
of God sends us of work and suffering. 

That which comes to us each mo- 



44 Holy Abandonment. 

ment by the order of God is best and 
holiest and most divine for us. 



CHAPTER V. 

Reading and other Exercises only sanctify 
us in so far as they are the Channels of 
the Divine Action. 

All our science consists in recogniz- 
ing God's will in regard to the present 
moment. All reading pursued in any 
other spirit than that of submission to 
the order of God is injurious. The will 
of God, the order of God, is the grace 
which works in the depths of our hearts 
by means of our readings and' by all 
our other works. Without it our read- 
ings are but shadows, vain appearances, 
which, coming to us devoid of the vivi- 
fying virtue of the order of God, serve 
only to empty the heart by the very 
plenitude they cause in the mind. 

The virtue of this divine will flowing 
into the soul of a simple, ignorant girl 
by means of suffering or ordinary ac- 
tions, effects in the depths of her heart 
this mysterious work of the super- 
natural Being; without filling her mind 



How far Reading Sanctifies us. 45 

with any idea likely to awaken pride ; 
while the proud man who studies 
spiritual books only through curiosity, 
and does not unite his reading to the 
will of God, receives into his mind the 
letter without the spirit, and becomes 
colder and more hardened than ever. 

The order of God, His divine will, is 
the life of the soul under whatever ap- 
pearances the soul receives it or applies 
it to herself. 

Whatever may be the relation of the 
divine will to the mind, it nourishes 
the soul, and unceasingly strengthens 
her growth by giving her each moment 
what is best for her. Nor is one thing 
more efficacious than another in pro- 
ducing these happy effects ; no, it is 
simply the duty of the present moment 
which comes to us by the order of God. 
That which was best for us in the past 
moment is no longer best for us, for it 
is stripped of the will of God, which 
has passed on to other things from 
which it creates for us the duty of the 
present moment ; and it is this duty, 
under whatever appearance it is mani- 
fested, which will now most perfectly 
sanctify our souls. 



46 Holy Aba?idonment. 

If the divine will make reading the 
duty of the present moment, the read- 
ing will effect His mysterious work in 
the depths of the soul. If, in obedience 
to the divine will, we leave the reading 
for the duty of contemplation, this duty 
will create the new man in the depths 
of the heart, and reading would then be 
injurious and useless. If the divine 
will withdraw us from contemplation to 
hear confessions or to other duties, and 
that during a considerable time, these 
duties form Jesus Christ in the depths 
of the heart, and all the sweetness of 
contemplation would only serve to 
banish Him. 

The order of God is the fulness of 
all our moments. It flows under a 
thousand different appearances which, 
successively becoming our present duty, 
form, increase, and complete the new 
man in us, in all the fulness which the 
divine wisdom has destined for us. 
This mysterious growth of Jesus Christ 
in us is the work produced by the or- 
der of God ; it is the fruit of His grace 
and of His divine will. 

This fruit, as we have said, is germi- 
nated, increased, and nourished by the 



How far Reading Sanctifies us. 47 

succession of our present duties filled 
with the virtue of this same divine will. 

In fulfilling these duties we are 
always sure of possessing the " better 
part," for this holy will is itself the 
better part. We have but to yield to 
it, blindly abandon ourselves to it with 
perfect confidence. It is infinitely holy, 
infinitely wise, infinitely powerful, for 
souls which unreservedly hope in it, 
which love and seek but it alone, and 
which believe with unfaltering faith 
that what it assigns to each moment is 
best without seeking elsewhere for 
more or less, and without pausing to 
consider the relation of material things 
with the order of God, which is the 
seeking of pure self-love. 

The will of God is the essential, the 
reality and virtue, of all things ; it is 
that which adapts and renders them 
suitable to the soul. 

Without it all is emptiness, nothing- 
ness, falsehood, the empty husk, the 
letter without the spirit, vanity, death. 

The will of God is the health, the 
life, the salvation of soul and body, 
whatever its manifestation or ways of 
reaching us. 



48 Holy Abandonment. 

Therefore we must not judge of the 
virtue of things by the relations they 
bear to mind or body, for these relations 
are unimportant. It is the will of God 
alone which gives to all things, what- 
ever they may be, the power to form 
Jesus Christ in the depth of our hearts. 
We must frame no laws for this will 
and place no limit to its action, for it 
is all-powerful. 

Whatever the ideas which fill the 
mind, whatever the feelings which the 
body experiences, were it for the mind 
but distractions and trouble, for the 
body but sickness and death, the divine 
will nevertheless is ever for the pres- 
ent moment the life of body and soul; 
for both one and the other, whatever 
their condition, are sustained by it 
alone. Bread without it is poison; 
and through it poison becomes a salu- 
tary remedy. Without it, books but 
confuse and trouble us ; with it, dark- 
ness is turned into light. It is the 
wisdom, the truth, of all things. In all 
things it gives us God: and God is the 
infinite Being who holds the place of 
all things to the soul which possesses 
Him. 



Usefulness of the Mind limited. 49 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Mind and other Human Means are Use- 
ful only in as far as they are the Instru- 
ments of the Divine Action. 

The mind with all its powers would 
hold the first place among the instru- 
ments of the divine will ; but it must, 
like a dangerous slave, be reduced to 
the last. 

The simple of heart who know how 
to use it can derive great profit there- 
from; but it can also do much injury 
when not kept in subjection. 

When the soul sighs after created 
means, the divine action whispers to 
the heart that it sufficeth ; when she 
would injudiciously reject them, the 
divine action whispers that they are 
instruments not to be taken or rejected 
at will, but to be simply received from 
Providence and adapted to the order of 
God — the soul thus using all things as 
though not using them, being deprived 
of all things, yet wanting nothing. 

The divine action, being limitless in 
its fulness, can take possession of a soul 



50 Holy Abandonment. 

only in as far as the soul is void of all 
confidence in her own action ; for this 
confidence and self-activity fill the 
heart to the exclusion of the divine 
action. It is an obstacle which, exist- 
ing in the soul herself, is more likely to 
arrest the divine action than exterior 
obstacles, which Providence can change 
at will into powerful aids ; for it can 
work with all things, even those which 
are in themselves useless. With the 
divine will nothing is everything, and 
without it everything is nothing. 

Whatever the value in itself of medi- 
tation, contemplation, vocal prayer, 
interior silence, acts of the will whether 
sensible, distinct, or less perceptible, 
retreat, or active life, — better than all of 
them is what God wills for the soul at 
the present moment; and the soul 
should regard everything else with per- 
fect indifference, as being of no value 
whatever. 

Thus seeing God alone in all things, 
she should take or leave them at His 
pleasure in order to live in, hope in, 
and be nourished by Him, and not by 
the things which have force and virtue 
only through Him. Under all circum- 



Usefulness of the Mind limited. 5 1 

stances the soul should constantly say 
with St. Paul, " Lord, what wouldst 
Thou have me do ?" Not this more 
than that, but simply Thy adorable 
will ! The spirit loves one thing, the 
flesh another; but, Lord, let Thy will be 
mine. Contemplation, action, prayer 
vocal or mental, affective or passive, 
light or darkness, special or general 
graces, — all these are nothing, Lord, for 
in Thy will lies their sole virtue. Thy 
will alone is the end of all my devotion, 
and not these things, however elevated 
orsublime in themselves; for the end of 
divine grace is the perfection of the 
heart, not of the mind. 

The presence of God which sanctifies 
our souls is that indwelling of the 
Trinity which penetrates to the depths 
of our hearts when they are submissive 
to the divine will ; for the presence of 
God which we enjoy through the exer- 
cise of contemplation effects this in- 
timate union in us only as do all other 
things which come to us in the order 
of God. It holds, however, the first 
rank among them, for it is the most 
excellent means of uniting one's self 



52 Holy Abandonment. 

with God when He wills that we 
should use it. 

We may therefore justly esteem and 
love contemplation and other pious 
exercises, provided the foundation of 
this esteem and love be wholly God, 
who mercifully deigns through them 
to communicate Himself to our souls. 

We receive the prince himself when 
we receive his suite. It would be 
showing him little respect to neglect 
his officers under pretext of possessing 
him alone. 



CHAPTER VII. 

There is no Enduring Peace but in Sub- 
mission to the Divine Action. 

The soul that is not united solely 
to the will of God will find neither rest 
nor sanctification in any self-chosen 
means — not even in the most excellent 
exercises of piety. If that which God 
Himself chooses for you does not suffice, 
what other hand can minister to your 
desires ? If you turn from the food the 
divine will itself has prepared for you, 
what viands will not prove insipid to a 



Enduring Peace only in Submission. 53 

taste so depraved ? A soul cannot be 
truly nourished, strengthened, purified, 
enriched, sanctified, except by the ful- 
ness of the present moment. Then 
what more would you have ? Since 
you here find all good, why seek it else- 
where ? Are you wiser than God ? 
Since He ordains it should be thus, how 
could you desire it should be otherwise ? 
Can His wisdom and goodness err ? 
Should you not from the moment He 
ordains an event be utterly convinced 
thatit is thebest that could happen ? Do 
you think you will find peace in strug- 
gling with the Almighty ? On the con- 
trary, is it not this struggle too often 
renewed, almost unconsciously, which 
is the cause of all our disquiet. It is 
but just that the soul which is not sat- 
isfied with the divine fulness of the 
present moment should be punished by 
an inability to find contentment in any- 
thing else. 

If books, the example of the saints, 
spiritual discourses, destroy the peace 
of the soul, if they fill without satisfy 
ing, it is a mark that we have not re- 
ceived them in simple abandonment to 
the divine action, but have taken them 



54 Holy Abandonment. 

ourselves in a spirit of proprietorship. 
Their fulness, therefore, bars the en- 
trance of God to the soul, and we must 
rid ourselves of it as an obstacle to 
grace. But when the divine action 
ordains the use of these means, the 
soul receives them as it does everything 
else — that is, in the order of God. She 
accepts them as she finds them, in her 
fidelity simply using them, never ap- 
propriating them; and their moment 
passed she abandons them to find her 
contentment in what follows in the 
order of Providence. In truth there is 
nothing really beneficial for me but 
that which comes to me in the order of 
God. Nowhere can I find any means, 
however good in itself, more efficacious 
for my sanctification and more capable 
of giving peace to my soul. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
The Perfection of Souls and the Excellence 
of Different States are in Proportion to 
their Conformity to the Order of God. 

The order of God gives to all things 
which concern the faithful soul a su- 



Perfection of Souls. 55 

pernatural and divine value; all that it 
exacts, all that it embraces, and all the 
objects upon which it sheds its light 
become holiness and perfection, for its 
virtue is limitless: it makes all that it 
touches divine. But in order to keep 
ourselves in the path of perfection, 
svvervir.g neither to the right nor the 
left, the soul must follow no inspiration 
which she assumes comes from God 
without first assuring herself that it 
does not interfere with the duties of 
her state in life. These duties are the 
most certain indications of the will of 
God, and lothing should be preferred 
to them; n fulfilling them there is 
nothing to be feared, no exclusion or 
discriminat on to be made; the moments 
devoted to hem are the most precious 
and salutarj for the soul from the fact 
that she is sure of accomplishing the 
good pleasu-e of God. All the perfec- 
tion of the sants consists in their fidel- 
ity to the oider of God; therefore we 
must refuse rothing, seek nothing, but 
accept all fron His hand, and nothing 
without Him Books, wise counsels, 
vocal prayers,interior affections, if they 
come to us in the order of God, instruct, 



$6 Holy Aba?idonment. 

guide, and unite the soul to Him. 
Quietism errs when it disclaims these 
means and all sensible appearances, tor 
there are souls whom God wills shall 
be always led in this way, and their 
state and their attractions clearlv indi- 
cate it. In vain we picture to ourselves 
methods of abandonment whence all 
action is excluded. When the order of 
God causes us to act, our sanctification 
lies in action. 

Besides the duties of each oie's state, 
God may further ask certain actions 
which are not included in these duties, 
though not contrary to there. Attrac- 
tion and inspiration, then, indicate the 
divine order; and the most perfect for 
souls whom God leads in this way is 
to add to things of precept, things in- 
spired, but always with the precautions 
which inspiration requires to prevent 
its interfering with the duties of one's 
state and the ordinary ev^its of Provi- 
dence. 

God makes saints as [He chooses. 
They are formed by His divine action, 
to which they are ever submissive, and 
this submission is the truest abandon- 
ment and the most perfe/t. 



Perfection of Souls. 5 7 

Fidelity to the duties of one's state and 
submission to the dispositions of Provi- 
dence are common to all the saints. 
They live hidden in obscurity, for the 
world is so fatal to holiness that they 
would avoid its quicksands; but not in 
this does their sanctity consist, but 
wholly in their entire submission to 
the order of God. The more absolute 
their submission the greater their sanc- 
tity. We must not imagine that those 
whose virtues God is pleased to bril- 
liantly manifest by singular and extra- 
ordinary works, by undoubted attrac- 
tions and inspirations, are any less 
faithful in the path of abandonment. 
Once the order of God makes these 
brilliant works a duty they fail in aban- 
donment to Him and His will which 
ceases to rule their every moment, and 
their every moment ceases to be the 
exponent of the will of God if they 
content themselves with the duties of 
their state and the ordinary events of 
Providence. They must study and 
measure their efforts according to the 
standard of God's designs for them in 
that path which their attractions indi- 
cate to them. Fidelity to inspiration 



58 Holy Abandonment. 

is for them a duty; and as there are 
souls whose whole duty is marked by 
an exterior law, and who must be 
guided by it because God confines them 
to it, so also there are others who, be- 
sides their exterior duties, must be 
further faithful to that interior law 
which the Holy Spirit engraves upon 
their hearts. 

But who are the most perfect? Vain 
and idle research ! Each one must fol- 
low the path which is traced for him. 
Perfection consists in absolute submis-' 
sion to the order of God and carefully 
availing ourselves of all that is most 
perfect therein. It advances us little 
to weigh the advantages of the different 
states considered in themselves, since 
it is neither in the quality nor quantity 
of things enjoined that sanctity is to be 
sought. If self-love be the principle of 
our actions, or if we do not correct it 
when we recognize its workings, we 
will be always poor in the midst of an 
abundance not provided by the order 
of God. However, to decide in a mea- 
sure the question, I think that sanctity 
corresponds to the love one has for 
God's good pleasure, and the greater 



Perfection of Souls. 59 

one's love for this holy will and this 
order, whatever the character of their 
manifestations, the greater one's sancti- 
ty. This is manifest in Jesus, Mary, 
and Joseph, for in their private life 
there is more of love than of grandeur, 
and more of spirit than of matter; and 
it is not written that these sacred per- 
sons sought the holiest of things, but 
holiness in all things. 

We must therefore conclude that 
there is no special way which can be 
called the most perfect, but that the 
most perfect in general is fidelity to the 
order of God, whether in the accom- 
plishment of exterior duties or in the 
interior dispositions, each one accord- 
ing to his state and calling. 

I believe that if souls seriously aspir- 
ing to perfection understood this, and 
knew how direct is their path, they 
would be spared much difficulty. I 
say the same equally of souls living in 
the world and of souls consecrated to 
God. If the first knew the means of 
merit afforded them by their ever- 
recurring daily duties and the ordi- 
nal actions of their state in life ; if 
the second could persuade themselves 



60 Holy Abandonment. 

that the foundation of sanctity lies in 
those very things which they consider 
unimportant and even foreign to them; 
if both could understand that the crosses 
sent by Providence which they constant- 
ly find in their state in life lead them to 
the highest perfection by a surer and 
shorter path than do extraordinary 
states or extraordinary works; and that 
the true philosopher's stone is submis- 
sion to the order of God, which changes 
into pure gold all their occupations, all 
their weariness, all their sufferings — 
how happy they would be ! What con- 
solation and what courage they would 
gather from this thought, that to ac- 
quire the friendship of God and all the 
glory of heaven they have but to do 
what they are doing, suffer what they 
are suffering ; and that what they lose 
and count as naught would suffice to 
obtain them eminent sanctity. O my 
God, that I might be the missionary of 
Thy holy will, and teach the whole 
world that there is nothing so easy, so 
simple, so within the reach of all, as 
sanctity! Would that I could make 
them understand that just as the good 
and bad thief had the same to do and 



Perfection of Souls. 6 1 

suffer to obtain their salvation, so two 
souls, one worldly and the other wholly 
interior and spiritual, have nothing 
more to do, one than the other; that she 
who sanctifies herself acquires eternal 
happiness by doing in submission to 
the will of God what she who is lost 
does through caprice; and that the lat- 
ter is lost by suffering unwillingly and 
impatiently what she who is saved en- 
dures with resignation. The difference, 
therefore, is only in the heart. 

O dear souls who read this, let me 
repeat to you: Sanctity willcost you no 
more; do what you are doing; suffer 
what you are suffering: it is only your 
heart that need be changed. By the 
heart we mean the will. This change, 
then, consists in willing what comes to 
us by the order of God. Yes, holiness 
of heart is a simple fiat, a simple dis- 
position of conformity to the will of 
God. And what is easier? For who 
could not love so adorable and merci- 
ful a will ? Let us love it, then, and 
through this love alone all within us 
will become divine. 



62 Holy Abandonment, 



CHAPTER IX. 
t All the Riches of Grace are the Fruit of 
Purity of Heart and Perfect Self-abandon- 
ment. 

He, therefore, who would abundantly 
enjoy all good has but to purify his 
heart, detach himself from creatures, 
and completely abandon himself to the 
will of God. In this purity of heart 
and self-abandonment he will find all 
things. 

Let others, Lord, ask Thee all gifts, let 
them multiply their petitions; I have 
but one gift to ask, but one prayer to 
make: Give me a pure heart. O blessed 
pure of heart! In thy lively faith thou 
beholdestGod within thee. Thou seest 
Him in all things, and thou seest Him 
at all times working within thee and 
about thee. Thou art in all things His 
subject and His instrument. He guides 
thee in all things and leads thee to all 
things. Frequently thou art unmind- 
ful ; but He thinks for thee. He only 
asks that thou desire all that comes to 
thee or may come to thee by His divine 



The Riches of Grace. 63 

order. He understands the preparation 
of thy heart. In thy salutary blindness 
thou seekest in vain to discover this 
desire; but oh! it is clear to Him. How 
great is thy simplicity ! Knowest thou 
not that a well-disposed heart is no 
other than a heart in which God dwells? 
Beholding His own desires in this heart 
He knows it will be ever submissive to 
His order. He knows at the same time 
that thou art ignorant what is best for 
thee, therefore it is His care to provide 
for thee. He cares not that thy designs 
are thwarted. Thou wouldst go east: He 
leads thee west. Thou art just upon the 
rocks: He turns the helm and brings 
thee safely into port. Though knowing 
neither chart, nor route, nor winds, nor 
tides, thy voyages are ever prosperous. 
If pirates cross thy way an unexpected 
breeze bears thee beyond their reach. 

O good will ! O purity of heart ! 
Well did Jesus know your value when 
He placed ye among the beatitudes. 
What greater happiness than to possess 
God and be possessed by Him? O state 
most blessed and full of charm ! In 
it we sleep peacefully in the bosom of 
Providence, sporting like a child with 



64 Holy Abandonment. 

the divine wisdom, unheedful of our 
course, which is ever onward; in spite 
of shoals, and pirates, and continual 
storms, we are borne on to a prosperous 
end. 

O purity of heart ! O good will ! Ye 
are the sole foundation of all spiritual 
states. To you are given, and through 
you are made profitable, the gifts of 
pure faith, pure hope, pure confidence, 
and pure love. Upon your stem are 
grafted the desert flowers — I mean those 
graces which we rarely find blooming 
but in utterly detached souls, of which 
God takes possession as of an unin- 
habited dwelling, and there abides to 
the exclusion of all other things. You 
are that bountiful source whence flow 
all the streams which water the parterre 
of the bridegroom and the garden of 
the bride. Alas ! how truly mayest 
thou say to all souls: Consider me well; 
I am the mother of fair love — that love 
which develops all that is best and takes 
it to itself. It is I who give birth to 
that sweet and salutary fear which in- 
spires a horror of evil, and makes you 
peacefully avoid it; I who ripen the 
sublime knowledge of God's greatness 



The Riches of Gr-ace. 65 

and reveal the value of the virtues 
which honor Him. It is I, finally, who 
inspire those ardent desires which, un- 
ceasingly sustained by holy confidence, 
stimulate you to practise virtue in the 
expectation of that divine object, the 
enjoyment of which will one day be- 
come, even as it is now (though then 
in a much more perfect degree), the 
happiness of faithful souls. Well may- 
est thou invite them all to enrich them- 
selves from thy inexhaustible treasures, 
for thou art the source of all spiritual 
conditions and ways. From thee do 
they draw all their beauty, attraction, 
and charm. Those marvellous fruits 
of grace and virtue which dazzle us on 
all sides, and with which our devotion 
is nourished, are thy harvests. Thine 
is the land of abundance and honey ; 
thy breasts distil milk, thy bosom 
gives out the sweet odor of myrrh ; 
through thy fingers flow in all its purity 
the divine wine which usually must be 
obtained by the labor of the wine-press. 
Let us fly then, dear souls, and plunge 
ourselves in that sea of love which in- 
vites us. What await we ? Why do we 
tarry ? Let us hasten to lose ourselves 



66 Holy Abandonment. 

in God, in His very heart, that we may- 
inebriate ourselves with the wine of 
His charity; in this heart we shall find 
the key to all heavenly treasures. Then 
let us proceed on our way to heaven, 
for there is no secret of perfection 
which we may not penetrate : every 
avenue is open to us, even to the garden, 
the cellar, the vineyard of the Bride- 
groom. If we would breathe the air 
of the fields we have but to direct our 
steps thither; in a word, we may come 
and go at will armed with this key of 
David, this key of knowledge, this key 
of the abyss which contains the hidden 
treasures of the divine wisdom. With 
it we may also open the gates of the 
mystic death and descend into its 
sacred shades; we may go down into 
the depths of the sea and into the den 
of the lion. It is this divine key which 
unlocks those dark dungeons into which 
it thrusts souls, to withdraw them puri- 
fied and sanctified; it introduces us 
into those blissful abodes where light 
and knowledge dwell, where the Bride- 
groom takes His repose at midday, and 
where He reveals to His faithful souls 
the secrets of His love. O divine se- 



The Riches of Grace. 67 

crets, which may not be revealed, and 
which no mortal tongue can express ! 
This key, dear souls, is love. All bless- 
ings wait only for love to enrich us. 
It gives sanctity and all its accom- 
paniments ; its right hand and its 
left are filled with it that it may 
pour it in abundance from all sources 
into hearts open to divine grace. O 
divine seed of eternity ! who can suffi- 
ciently praise thee ? But why seek to 
praise thee ? It is better to possess 
thee in silence than to praise thee by 
feeble words. What am I saying? We 
must praise thee, but only because thou 
possessest us. For once thou possessest 
the heart, whether we read or write, or 
speak, or act, or are silent, it is all one 
and the same. We assume nothing, we 
refuse nothing; we are hermits, we are 
apostles; we are ill, we are well, we are 
simple, we are eloquent; in a word, we 
are what God wills we should be. The 
heart hears thy mandates, and, as thy 
faithful echo, repeats them to the other 
faculties. In this material and spiritual 
combination which thou deignest to 
regard as thy kingdom the heart gov- 
erns under thy guidance; as it contains 



68 Holy Abandonment. 

no desires uninspired by thee, all ob- 
jects please it under whatever form 
thou presentest them. Those which 
nature or the Evil One would substitute 
for thine only fill it with disgust and 
horror. If sometimes thou permittest 
the heart to be surprised, it is only that 
it may become wiser and more humble; 
but as soon as it recognizes its illusion 
it returns to thee with more love, and 
binds itself to Thee with greater fidel- 
ity. 



1300k 0£C0ttO. 

The Divine Action and the Manner in 
which it unceasingly works the Sanc- 
tification of Souls. 

CHAPTER I. 

The Divine Action is everywhere and al- 
ways Present, though only Visible to the 
Eye of Faith. 

All creatures are living in the hand 
of God; the senses perceive only the 
action of the creature, but faith sees 
the divine action in all things. Faith 
realizes that Jesus Christ lives in all 
things and works through all ages; that 
the least moment and the smallest atom 
contain a portion of this hidden life, 
this mysterious action. The instru- 
mentality of creatures is a veil which 
covers the profound mysteries of the 
divine action. The apparition of Jesus 
to His Apostles after His resurrection 
surprised them: He presented Himself 



70 Holy Aba?ido?i7nent. 

to them under forms which disguised 
Him, and as soon as He manifested 
Himself He disappeared. This same 
Jesus, who is ever living and laboring 
for us, still surprises souls whose faith, 
is not sufficiently lively to discern Him. 
There is no moment when God is not 
present with us under the appearance 
of some obligation or some duty. All 
that is effected within us, about us, and 
through us involves and hides His di- 
vine action: it is veritably present, 
though in an invisible manner; there- 
fore we do not discern it, and only 
recognize its workings when it has 
ceased to act. Could we pierce the 
veil which obscures it, and were we 
vigilant and attentive, God would un- 
ceasingly reveal Himself to us, and we 
would recognize His action in all that 
befell us. At every event we would ex- 
claim, Dominus est ! — It is the Lord ! and ■ 
we should feel each circumstance of our 
life an especial gift from Him. We 
should regard creatures as feeble in- 
struments in the hands of an all-power- 
ful workman; we should easily recog- 
nize that we lacked nothing, and that 
God's watchful care supplied the needs 



The Divine Action Omnipresent 7 1 

of every moment. Had we faith, we 
should be grateful to all creatures; we 
should cherish them, and in our hearts 
thank them that in the hand of God 
they have been so serviceable to us and 
so favorable to the work of our perfec- 
tion. 

If we lived an uninterrupted life of 
faith we should be in continual com- 
munion with God, we should speak 
with Him face to face. Just as the air 
transmits our words and thoughts, so 
would all that we are called to do and 
suffer transmit to us the words and 
thoughts of God; all that came to us 
would be but the embodiment of His 
word; it would be exteriorly manifested 
in all things; we should find everything 
holy and profitable. The glory of God 
makes this the state of the blessed in 
heaven, and faith would make it ours 
on earth; there would be only the dif- 
ference of means. 

Faith is God's interpreter; without 
its enlightenment we understand noth- 
ing of the language of created things. 
It is a writing in cipher, in which we 
see naught but confusion; it is a burn- 
ing bush, from the midst of which we 



72 Holy Abandonment. 

little expect to hear God's voice. But 
faith reveals to us as to Moses the fire 
of divine charity burning in the midst 
of the bush; it gives the ke3^ to the 
ciphers, and discovers to us in the 
midst of the confusion the wonders of 
the divine wisdom. Faith gives to 
the whole earth a heavenly aspect; 
faith transports, enraptures the heart, 
and raises it above the things of this 
earth to converse with the blessed. 

Faith is the light of time: it alone 
grasps the truth without seeing it; it 
touches what it does not feel; it sees 
this world as though it existed not, be- 
holding quite other things than those 
which are visible. It is the key of the 
treasure-house, the key of the abyss, the 
key of the science of God. It is faith 
which shows the falseness of all crea- 
tures: through it God reveals and 
manifests Himself in all things; by it 
all things are made divine; it lifts the 
veil from created things and reveals 
the eternal truth. 

All that our eyes behold is vanity and 
falsehood; in God alone lies the truth 
of all things. How far above our il- 
lusions are the designs of God ! How 



The Divine Actio?i Omnipresent. 73 

is it that though continually reminded 
that all that passes in the world is but 
a shadow, a figure, a mystery of faith, 
we are guided by human feelings, by 
the natural sense of things, which after 
all is but an enigma? We foolishly 
fall into snares instead of lifting our 
eyes and rising to the principle, the 
source, the origin of all ; where all 
things bear other names and other 
qualities; where all is supernatural, di- 
vine, sanctifying ; where all is part of 
the fulness of Jesus Christ; where every- 
thing forms a stone of the heavenly 
Jerusalem, where everything leads to 
this marvellous edifice and enters 
therein. We live by the things of sight 
and hearing, neglecting that light of 
faith which would safely guide us 
through the labyrinth of shadows and 
images through which we foolishly 
wander. He, on the contrary, who walks 
by faith seeks but God alone, and all 
things from God; he lives in God; un- 
heeding and rising above the figures of 
sense. 



74 Holy Abandonment. 



CHAPTER II. 

The Divine Action is all the more Visible to 
the Eye of Faith when hidden under Ap- 
pearances most Repugnant to the Senses. 

The soul enlightened by faith is far 
from judging of created things, like 
those who measure them by their senses, 
and ignore the inestimable treasure 
they contain. He who recognizes the 
king in disguise treats him very differ- 
ently from him who, judging by ap- 
pearances alone, fails to recognize his 
royalty. So the soul that sees the 
will of God in the smallest things, and 
in the most desolating and fatal events, 
receives all with equal joy, exultation, 
and respect. That which others fear 
and fly from with horror she opens all 
her doors to receive with honor. The 
retinue is poor, the senses despise it; 
but the heart, under these humble ap- 
pearances, discerns and does homage 
to the royal majesty; and the more this 
majesty abases itself, coming secretly 
with modest suite, the deeper is the 
love it inspires in the heart. 



When Divine Action is most Visible. 75 

I have no words with which to por- 
tray the feelings of the heart when it 
receives this divine will in the guise of 
humiliation, poverty, annihilation. Ah! 
how moved was the beautiful heart of 
Mary at sight of that poverty of a God, 
that annihilation which brought Him 
to lodge in a manger, to repose on a 
handful of straw a trembling, weeping 
infant ! Ask the people of Bethlehem 
what they think of this child: were 
He in a palace with royal surroundings 
they would do Him homage. But 
ask Mary, Joseph, the Magi, the shep- 
herds: they will tell you that in this 
extreme poverty they find that which 
manifests God to them more sublime 
and adorable. By just that which the 
senses lack is faith heightened, in- 
creased, and nourished; the less there is 
to human eyes, the more there is to the 
soul. The faith which adores Jesus on 
Thabor, which loves the will of God in 
extraordinary events, is not that lively 
faith which loves the will of God in 
common events and adores Jesus on 
the cross. For the perfection of faith 
is seen only when visible and material 
things contradict it and seek to destroy 



J 6 Holy Abandonment. 

it. Through this war of the senses 
faith comes out gloriously victorious. 

It is not an ordinary but a grand 
and extraordinary faith which finds 
God equally adorable in the simplest 
and commonest things as in the great- 
est events of life. 

To content ones' self with the present 
moment is to love and adore the divine 
will in all that comes to us to do or 
suffer through the things which suc- 
cessively form the duties of the pres- 
ent moment. Souls thus disposed 
adore God with redoubled ardor and 
respect in the greatest humiliations; 
nothing hides Him from the piercing 
eye of their faith. The more vehe- 
mently the senses exclaim, This is 
not from God ! the closer do they press 
this bundle of myrrh from the hand of 
the Bridegroom; nothing disturbs them, 
nothing repels them. 

Mary sees the Apostles fly, but she 
remains constant at the foot of the 
cross; she recognizes her Son in that 
face spat upon and bruised. These 
disfiguring wounds only render Him 
more adorable and worthy of love 
in the eyes of this tender mother; and 



When Divine Action is most Visible. 77 

the blasphemies poured forth against 
Him only serve to increase her pro- 
found veneration. In like manner, a 
life of faith is but a continual pursuit 
of God through all which disguises and 
disfigures Him; through all which, so to 
speak, destroys and annihilates Him. 
It is truly a reproduction of the life of 
Mary, who from the manger to Calvary 
remained constant to a God whom the 
world despised, persecuted, and aban- 
doned. So faithful souls, despite a con- 
tinual succession of deaths, veils, shad- 
ows, semblances which disguise the will 
of God, perseveringly pursue it, and 
love it unto death on the cross. They 
know that, unheeding all disguises, they 
must follow this holy will; for, beyond 
the heaviest shadows, beyond the dark- 
est clouds, the divine Sun is shining to 
enlighten, enflame, and vivify those 
constant hearts who bless, praise, and 
contemplate Him from all points of 
this mysterious horizon. 

Hasten, then, happy, faithful, untiring 
souls; hasten to follow this dear Spouse 
who with giant strides traverses the 
heavens and from whom nothing can 
be hidden. He passes over the small- 



7S Holy Abandonment. 

est blade of grass as above the loftiest 
cedars. The grains of sand are under 
His feet no less than the mountains. 
Wherever your foot may rest He has 
passed, and you have only to follow 
Him faithfully to find Him wherever 
you go. 

Oh, the ineffable peace that is ours 
when faith has taught us thus to see 
God through all creatures as through 
a transparent veil ! Then darkness be- 
comes light, and bitter turns to sweet. 
Faith, manifesting-all things in their 
true light, changes their deformity into 
beauty, and their malice into virtue. 
Faith is the mother of meekness, con- 
fidence, and joy; she can feel naught 
but tenderness and compassion for her 
enemies who so abundantly enrich her 
at their own expense. The more ma- 
lignant the action of the creature, the 
more profitable does God render it to 
the soul. While the human instru- 
ment seeks to injure us, the divine 
Artisan in whose hand it lies makes use 
of its very malice to remove what is 
prejudicial to the soul. 

The will of God has only consola- 
tions, graces, treasures, for submissive 



Infinite Blessings offered us. 79 

souls ; our confidence in it cannot be 
too great, nor our abandonment there- 
to be too absolute. It always wills and 
effects that which contributes most to 
our sanctification, provided meanwhile 
we yield ourselves to its divine action. 
Faith never doubts it; the more unbe- 
lieving, rebellious, despondent, and 
wavering the senses, the louder Faith 
cries, " This is God ! All is well !" 

There is nothing Faith does not pene- 
trate and overcome; it passes beyond 
all shadows and through the darkest 
clouds to reach Truth; clasps it in a 
firm embrace, and is never parted from 
it. 



CHAPTER III. 

The Divine Action offers us at each Mo- 
ment Infinite Blessings, which we receive 
in proportion to our Faith and Love. 

If we knew how to greet each mo- 
ment as the manifestation of the divine 
will, we would find in it all the heart 
could desire. For what indeed is more 
reasonable, more perfect, more divine 



So Holy Abandonment. 

than the will of God ? Can its infinite 
value be increased by the paltry differ- 
ence of time, place, or circumstance? 
Were you given the secret of finding it 
at all times and in all places, you would 
possess a gift most precious, most 
worthy of your desires. What seek ye, 
holy souls? Give free scope to your 
longings; place no limit to youraspira- 
tions; expand your heart to the meas- 
ure of the infinite. I have that where- 
with to satisfy it: there is no moment 
in which I may not cause you to find 
all you can desire. 

The present moment is always filled 
with infinite treasures: it contains more 
than you are capable of receiving. 
Faith is the measure of these blessings: 
in proportion to your faith will you 
receive. By love also are they meas- 
ured: the more your heart loves the 
more it desires, and the more it desires 
the more it receives. The will of God 
is constantly before you as an unfathom- 
able sea, which the heart cannot ex- 
haust: only in proportion as the heart 
is expanded by faith, confidence, and 
love can it receive of its fulness. All 
created things could not fill your heart, 



Infinite Blessings offered us. 8 1 

for its capacity is greater than anything 
which is not God. 

The mountains which affright the eye 
are but atoms to the heart. The divine 
will is an abyss, of which the present 
moment is the entrance; plunge fear- 
lessly therein and you will find it more 
boundless than your desires. Offer no 
homage to creatures; adore not phan- 
toms: they can give you nothing, they 
: can take nothing from you. The will of 
God alone shall be your fulness, and it 
shall leave no void in your soul. Adore 
it; go direct to it, penetrating all appear- 
ances, casting aside all impediments. 
The spoliation, the destruction, the death 
of the senses is the reign of faith. The 
senses adore creatures; faith adores the 
divine will. Wrest from the senses 
their idols, they will weep like discon- 
solate children; but faith will triumph, 
for nothing can take from her the will 
of God. When all the senses are 
famished, affrighted, despoiled, then 
does the will of God nourish, enrich, 
and fortify faith, which smiles at these 
apparent losses, as the commander of 
an impregnable fortress smiles at the 
futile attacks of an enemy. 



82 Holy Abandon?ne?it. 

When the will of God reveals itself 
to a soul manifesting a desire to wholly 
possess her, if the soul freely give her- 
self in return she experiences most 
powerful assistance in all difficulties; 
she then tastes by experience the hap- 
piness of that coming of the Lord, and 
her enjoyment is in proportion to the 
degree in which she learned to practise 
that self abandonment which must 
bring her at all moments face to face 
with this ever adorable will. 



CHAPTER IV. 

God reveals Himself to us as Mysteriously, 
as Adorably, and with as much Reality in 
the most Ordinary Events as in the great 
Events of History and the Holy Script- 
ures. 

The written word of God is full of 
mystery; His word expressed in the 
events of the world is no less so. These 
two books are truly sealed; the letter 
of both killeth. 

God is the centre of faith which is an 
abyss from whose depths shadows rise 
which encompass all that comes forth 



God Revealed even in Ordinary Events. 83 

from it. God is incomprehensible; so 
also are His works, which require our 
faith. All these words, all these works, 
are but obscure rays, so to speak, of a sun 
still more obscure. In vain do we strive 
to gaze upon this sun and its rays with 
the eyes of our body; the eyes of the 
soul itself, through which we behold 
God and His works, are no less closed. 
Obscurity here takes the place of light; 
knowledge is ignorance, and we see 
though not seeing. Holy Scripture is 
the mysterious language of a still more 
mysterious God. The events of the 
world are the mysterious utterances of 
this same hidden and inscrutable God. 
They are drops of the ocean, but an 
ocean of shadows. Every rivulet, every 
drop of the stream, bears the impress of 
its origin. The fall of the angels, the 
fall of man, the wickedness and idolatry 
of men before and after the deluge, in 
the time of the Patriarchs who knew the 
history of creation, with its recent pres- 
ervation, and related it to their chil- 
dren, — these are the truly mysterious 
words of Holy Scripture. A handful 
of men preserved from idolatry amid 
the general corruption of the whole 



84 Holy Abandonment. 

world until the coming of the Messias, 
evil always dominant, always powerful; 
the little band of the defenders of the 
faith always ill-treated, always perse- 
cuted; the persecution of Christ; the 
plagues of the Apocalypse — in these 
behold the words of God. It is what 
He has revealed. It is what He has 
dictated. And the effects of these ter- 
rible mysteries, which endure till the 
end of time, are still the living words 
of God by which we learn His wisdom, 
goodness, and power. All the events 
in the history of the world show forth 
these attributes and glorify Him there- 
in. We must believe it blindly, for, 
alas ! we cannot see. 

What does God teach us by Turks, 
heretics, and all the enemies of His 
Church? They preach forcibly. They 
all show forth His infinite perfections. 
So do Pharao and all the impious hosts 
who followed him and will still follow 
him; though truly, to the evidence of 
our senses, the end of all these is most 
contrary to the divine glory. W r e must 
close our corporal eyes and cease to 
reason if we would read the divine 
mvsteries in all this. 



God Revealed even in Ordinary Events. 85 

Thou speakest, Lord, to all mankind 
by general events. All revolutions are 
but the tides of Thy Providence, which 
excite storms and tempests in the 
minds of the curious. Thou speakest 
to each one in particular by the events 
of his every moment. But instead of 
respecting the mystery and obscurity 
of Thy words, and hearing Thy voice in 
all the occurrences of life, they only see 
therein chance, the acts, the caprice of 
men; they find fault in everything; 
they would add to, diminish, reform — in 
fact, they indulge in liberties with these 
living words of God, while they would 
consider it a sacrilege to alter a comma 
of the Holy Scriptures. The Scriptures 
they revere: they are the word of God, 
they tell you; they are true and holy. 
Though they may comprehend them 
little, their veneration for them is no 
less great, and they justly give honor 
and glory to God for the depth of His 
wisdom. 

But, dear souls, have you no respect 
for the words God addresses you each 
moment, — words which are not con- 
veyed to you by means of ink and 
paper, but by what you have to do and 



86 Holy Abandonment. 

suffer from moment to moment, — do 
these words merit nothing from you ? 
Why do you not revere the truth and 
will of God in all things? There is 
nothing which fully satisfies you; you 
criticise and cavil at all that happens. 
Do you not see that you try to measure 
by the senses and reason that which 
can be measured by faith alone? And 
that while reading the word of God in 
the Holy Scriptures with the eyes of 
faith, y<-u gravely err when you read 
this same word with other eyes in His 
works ? 



CHAPTER V. 

The Divine Action continues in our Hearts 
the Revelation begun in Holy Scripture; 
but the Characters in which it is written 
will be Visible only at the Last Day. 

" Jesus Christ," says the Apostle, " is 
the same yesterday, to-day, and for- 
ever." From the beginning of the 
world He was, as God, the principle of 
the life of just souls. From the first 
moment of His incarnation His hu- 
manity shared this prerogative of His 



Revelation and the Divine Action. 87 

divinity. Throughout our whole lives 
He is working within us. The time of 
this world is but a day, and this day is 
full of Him. Jesus Christ lived, and 
He still lives. He began in Himself, 
and He continues in His saints, a life 
which will never end. O life of Jesus, 
which embraces and exceeds all ages! 
Life which unceasingly worketh new 
wonders! If the world is incapable of 
embracing all that could have been 
written of the actual life of Jesus, of all 
that He said and did upon earth; if the 
Gospel gives us only a few traits of it; 
if so little is known even of that first 
hidden yetfruitful hourof Bethlehem, — - 
how many gospels must needs be writ- 
ten to relate all the moments of that 
mystic life of Jesus Christ which mul- 
tiplies wonders infinitely, multiplies 
them eternally! — for all times, properly 
speaking, are but the history of the di- 
vine action. 

The Holy Spirit has marked in infal- 
lible and incontestable characters cer- 
tain moments of this vast duration, and 
gathered in the Scriptures some drops 
of this boundless ocean. We see therein 
the secret and hidden ways by which 



8S Holy Abandonment, 

He has manifested Jesus Christ to the 
world. We can follow the channels and 
veins which, amid the confusion of the 
children of men, distinguish this First- 
born. The Old Testament is but a 
small portion of the innumerable and 
inscrutable ways of this divine work; it 
only contains what is necessary to reach 
Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit held the 
rest hidden in the treasures of His wis- 
dom. And from out this vast sea of the 
divine action but a thread of water ap- 
pears which readies Jesus, loses itself in 
the Apostles, and is swallowed up in the 
Apocalypse. So that by our faith alone 
can we learn the history of this divine 
action which consists in the life which 
Jesus Christ leads, and will lead in just 
souls until the end of time. 

To the manifestation of God's truth 
by word succeeded the manifestation of 
His charity by action. The Holy Spirit 
continues the work of the Saviour. 
While He assists the Church in preach- 
ing the gospel of Christ, He Himself at 
the same time writes His own gospel in 
our hearts. Each moment, each act, of 
the Saints is the gospel of the Holy 
Spirit. Holy souls are the paper; their 



Revelatio?i ond the Divi?ie Action. 89 

sufferings, their actions, are the ink. 
The Holy Spirit by the pen of His ac- 
tion writes a living gospel; but we can 
only read it on the last day, when it 
will be drawn from the press of this 
life and published. 

Oh, the glorious history, the beauti- 
ful book, which the Holy Spirit is now 
writing! It is in press, holy souls; and 
not a day passes in which type is not 
set, ink applied, and sheets of it printed. 
But we are in the night of faith: the 
paper is blacker than the ink; the char- 
acters are confused; it is the language 
of another w T orld; we understand it 
not; we shall only read its gospel in 
heaven. Oh, if we could but see this 
life of God in all creatures, in all 
things, and learn to regard them, not in 
themselves, but as the instruments of 
His will! If we could see how the di- 
vine action impels them hither and 
thither, unites them, disperses them, 
opposes them, and leads them by con- 
trary ways to the same end, we should 
recognize that all things have their pur- 
pose, their reason, their proportion, 
their relations in this divine work. 
But how shall we read this book with 



90 Holy Abandonment. 

its hidden, innumerable, contradictory, 
and obscure characters? If the com- 
binations of twenty-seven letters are in- 
comprehensible to us and suffice to 
form an unlimited number of different 
volumes, each admirable of its kind, 
who can express what God does in His 
universe ? Who can read and compre- 
hend a book so vast, in which there is 
not a letter which has not its own sig- 
nificance and does not contain in its 
littleness profound mysteries? Mys- 
teries are neither seen nor felt; they are 
the subjects of faith. Faith judges 
their worth and truth only by their 
source, for they are so obscure in them- 
selves that all their external appear- 
ances only serve to conceal them, and 
mislead those who judge by reason 
alone. 

Teach me, O divine Spirit, to read in 
this book of life! I would become Thy 
disciple, and like a little child believe 
what I cannot see. It sufficeth that my 
Master speaks. He tells me this, He 
proclaims that; His words are arranged 
in one form. He interprets them in an- 
other: that sufficeth me; I receive all 
as He presents it; I see not the reason 



Revelation a?id the Divine Action. 91 

thereof, but I know He is the infallible 
Truth. His words, His actions, are 
truth. He wills that these letters should 
form a word; such a number, another. 
They are but three, but six; yet no 
more are required, and less would mar 
the sense. He alone who knows all 
thought can combine the characters to 
express it. Everything is significant; 
everything has a perfect meaning. 
This line purposely ends here; there is 
not a comma lacking therein, nor one 
useless point. I believe it now; but on 
that glorious day, when so many mys- 
teries will be revealed me, I will see 
what I now only confusedly compre- 
hend; and that which appears so ob- 
scure, so perplexing, so contradictory 
to reason, so vague, so visionary, will 
enrapture and delight me to all eter- 
nity with the beauty, the order, the 
meaning, the wisdom, and the incon- 
ceivable marvels I shall discover therein. 



92 Holy Abando?nnent. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Divine Love is communicated to us through 
the Veil of Creatures, as Jesus communi- 
cates Himself to us through the Veil of 
the Eucharistic Species. 

What sublime truths are hidden 
even from Christians who believe them- 
selves most enlightened! How many 
are there who realize that every cross, 
every action, every attraction in the 
order of God gives Him to us in a man- 
ner which cannot be better explained 
than by comparison with the august 
mystery of the Eucharist! Yet what is 
more certain? Does not reason, as well 
as faith, reveal to us the real presence 
of divine love in all creatures, in all the 
events of life, as infallibly as the word 
of Christ and His Church reveal to us 
the presence of the sacred Body of the 
Saviour under the Eucharistic species? 
Do we not know that the divine love 
seeks to communicate itself to us 
through all creatures and through all 
events? — that it has effected, ordered, or 
permitted all our surroundings, all that 
befalls us, only in view of this union 
which is the sole end of all God's de- 



How Divine Love is Communicated. 93 

signs? — that for this end He makes 
use of the worst as well as the best 
creatures, of the most grievous as well 
as the most pleasing events? — and that 
our union with Him is even the more 
meritorious that the means which serve 
to make the union closer are of a nature 
repugnant to us ? But if all this be 
true, why should not each moment be 
a form of communion in which we re- 
ceive divine love; and why should not 
this communion of every moment be as 
profitable to our souls as that in which 
we receive the Body and Blood of the 
Son of God ? This latter, it is true, 
possesses sacramental grace, which the 
other does not; but, on the other hand, 
how much more frequently may not 
this first form of communion be re- 
peated, and how greatly may its merit 
be increased, by the perfection of the 
dispositions with which it is accom- 
plished! Therefore how true it is that 
the holiest life is mysterious in its sim- 
plicity and apparent lowliness! O 
heavenly banquet! O never-ending 
feast! A God always given, and al- 
ways received; not in sublime splendor 
or glorious light, but in utter infirmity, 



94 Holy Abandonment 

weakness, and nothingness! That which 
the natural man condemns, and human 
reason rejects, God chooses, and makes 
thereof mysteries, sacraments of love, 
'giving Himself to souls through that 
which would seem to injure them most, 
and in proportion to their faith which 
iinds Him in all things. 



CHAPTER VII 

The Divine Action, the Will of God, is as 
unworthily treated and disregarded in its 
Daily Manifestation by many Christians 
as was Jesus in the Flesh by the Jews. 

What infidelity we find in the world ! 
How unworthily men think of God ! 
They criticise His divine action as they 
would not dare to criticise the work of 
the humblest artisan. They would 
force Him to act within the narrow 
limits of their weak reason and follow 
its rules. They pretend to reform all 
things. They unceasingly complain 
and murmur. 

They are shocked at the treatment 
Jesus received at the hands of the Jews. 
Ah ! Divine Love ! Adorable Will ! 
Infallible Action ! How do they look 



Divine Action Unworthily Treated. 95 

upon Thee? Can the divine will err? 
Can* anything it sends be amiss? But 
I have this to do ; I need such a thing ; 
I have been deprived of the necessary 
means ; that man thwarts me in such 
good works ; is not this most unrea- 
sonable ? — this sickness overtakes me 
when I absolutely need my health. No, 
dear souls, the will of God is all that is 
absolutely necessary to you, therefore 
you do not need what He withholds 
from you — you lack nothing. If you 
could read aright these things which 
you call accidents, disappointments, 
misfortunes, contradictions, which you 
find unreasonable, untimely, you would 
blush with confusion ; you would re- 
gard your murmurs as blasphemies : 
but you do not reflect that all these 
things are simply the will of God. 
This adorable will is blasphemed by 
His dear children who fail to recog- 
nize it. 

When Thou wert upon earth, O 
my Jesus ! the Jews treated Thee as a 
sorcerer, called Thee a Samaritan ; 
and now that Thou livest in all ages, 
how do we regard Thy adorable will 
forever worthy of praise and blessing ? 



g6 Holy Abandonment. 

Has there been a moment from the 
creation to this present one in which we 
Kve, and will there be one to the last 
day, in which the holy Name of God 
is not worthy of praise ? — that Name 
which fills all time, and all the events 
of time ; that Name which renders all 
things salutary ! 

What ! Can that which is called the 
will of God work me harm ? Shall I 
fear, shall I fly from the will of God ? 
Ah ! where shall I go to find some- 
thing more profitable if I fear the di- 
action and resist the effect of the 
divine will ? 

How faithfully we should listen to 
the words which are each moment 
uttered in the depths of our hearts ! 
If our senses, our reason, hear not, 
penetrate not the truth and wisdom 
of these words, is it not because of 
their incapacity to divine eternal 
truths ? Should I be surprised that a 
mystery disconcerts reason? God 
speaks ; it is a mystery ; therefore it is 
death to the senses and reason, for it is 
the nature of mysteries to immolate 
to themselves sense and reason. 
Through faith mystery becomes the 



The Revelation of the Present Mo)nent. 97 

life of the heart, to all else it is contra- 
diction. The divine action killeth 
while it quickeneth; the more we feel 
death the firmer our faith that it will 
give life; the more obscure the mys- 
tery, the more light it contains. Hence 
it is that the simple soul finds nothing- 
more divine than that which is least so 
externally. The life of faith wholly 
consists in this constant struggle 
against the senses. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

The Revelation of the Present Moment is 
the more Profitable that it is addressed 
Directly to us. 

We are only truly instructed by the 
words which God pronounces expressly 
for us. It is neither by books nor curi- 
ous research that we become learned in 
the science of God : these means of 
themselves give us but a vain knowl- 
edge, which only serves to confuse us 
and inflate us with pride. 

That which really instructs us is all 
that comes to us by the order of God 
from one moment to another : this is 
the knowledge of experience, which 



98 Holy Abandonment. 

Christ Himself was pleased to acquire 
before teaching. It was indeed the 
only knowledge in which, according to 
the words of the Gospel, He could grow; 
for as God there was no degree of 
speculative knowledge which He did 
not possess. But if this knowledge 
was needful to the Incarnate Word 
Himself, it is absolutely necessary for 
us if we would speak to the hearts of 
those whom God sends to us. 

We only know perfectly that which 
we have learned by experience through 
suffering and action. This is the 
school of the Holy Spirit, who utters the 
words of life to the heart ; and all that 
we say to others should come from this 
source. Whatsoever we read, whatso- 
ever we see, becomes divine science only 
^through the fecundity, the virtue, the 
light, which the possession of this expe- 
rience gives. Without this science all 
our learning is like unleavened dough, 
lacking the salt and seasoning of ex- 
perience; the mind is filled with crude, 
unfledged ideas ; and we are like the 
dreamer who, knowing all the highways 
of the world, misses the path to his own 
home. 



The Revelation of the Present Moment. 99 

Therefore we have only to listen to 
God's voice from moment to moment if 
we would learn the science of the saints, 
which is all practice and experience. 

Heed not what is said to others ; 
listen only to what is uttered for you 
and to you : you will find therein suf- 
ficient to exercise your faith, for this 
hidden language of God by its very 
obscurity exercises, purifies, and in- 
creases your faith. 



CHAPTER IX. 

The Revelation of the Present Moment is an 
Inexhaustible Source of Sanctity. 

O all ye who thirst ! know that you 
have not far to seek for the fountain 
•of living waters; it springs close to you 
in the present moment. Hasten then 
to approach it. Why with the source 
so near do you weary yourselves run- 
ning after shallow streams, which only 
excite your thirst and give you to 
drink in small measure ? The source 
alone can satisfy you ; it is inexhaustible. 
If you would think, write, and live like 
the Prophets, Apostles, and Saints, 



ioo Holy Abandonment. 

abandon yourself, like them, to divine 
inspiration. 

O Love too little known ! Men think 
Thy marvels are o'er, and that we have 
but to copy Thy ancient works and 
quote Thy former teachings ! And 
they see not that Thy inexhaustible 
action is an infinite source of new 
thoughts, new sufferings, new works, 
new Patriarchs, new Prophets, new 
Apostles, new Saints, who have no need 
to copy the life or writings one of the 
other, but only to live in perpetual self- 
abandonment to Thy secret operations. 
We are wont to quote the " first ages 
of the Church ! — the times of the 
saints !" But is not all time the effects 
of the divine action, the workings of the 
divine will, which absorbs all moments, 
fills them, sanctifies them, supernatur- 
alizes them ? Has there ever been a 
method of self-abandonment to the 
divine will which is not now practi- 
cable ? From the earliest ages had the 
saints other secrets of holiness than 
that of becoming from moment to 
moment what the divine action would 
make them ? And will not this action 
even to the end of time continue to 



Manifestations of the Present Moment. 101 

pour its grace upon those who aban- 
don themselves to it without reserve ? 

Yes, adorable, eternal Love ! Love 
eternally fruitful and always marvel- 
lous ! Will of my God, Thou art my 
book, my doctrine, my science ; in Thee 
are my thoughts, my words, my deeds, 
my crosses. Not by consultingThy other 
works can I become what Thou wouldst 
make me, but only by receiving Thee 
through all things in that one royal 
way of self-abandonment to Thy will — 
that ancient way, that way of my 
fathers. I will think, speak, and be en- 
lightened like them ; following in this 
way, I will imitate them, quote them, 
copy them, in all things. 



CHAPTER X. 

The Present Moment is the Manifestation 
of the Name of God and the Coming of His 
Kingdom. 

The present moment is like an am- 
bassador which declares the will of 
God. The heart must ever answer 
fiat, and the soul will go steadily on by 
means of all things to her centre and 



102 Holy Abandonment 

her term — never pausing in her course, 
spreading her sails to all winds ; all 
ways, all methods equally further her 
progress towards the great, the infi- 
nite. All things afford her equal means 
of sanctification. The one only essen- 
tial the soul finds in the present mo- 
ment. It is no longer either prayer or 
silence, retirement or conversation, 
reading or writing, reflections or cessa- 
tion of thought, avoidance or seeking 
of spiritualities, abundance or priva- 
tion, illness or health, life or death, but 
simply what comes to her each moment 
by the order of God. In this consists 
that privation, abnegation, renounce- 
ment of created things, whether real or 
in will, in order that a soul may be 
nothing of herself or for herself, but live 
wholly by the order of God, and at His 
good pleasure content herself with the 
duty of the present moment, as though" 
it were the one thing in the world. 

If whatsoever comes to a soul thus 
self-abandoned is her one essential, we 
see clearly that she lacks nothing, and 
therefore should never complain ; that 
if she murmur she lacks faith, and lives 
by reason and the senses alone, which, 



Manifestations of the Present Moment. 103 

failing to recognize this sufficiency of 
grace, are ever discontented. 

To bless the name of God according 
to the expression of the Scriptures is 
to love Him, adore Him, and recognize 
His holiness in all things. In fact, all 
things like words proceed from the 
mouth of God. The events of each 
moment are divine thoughts expressed 
by created objects ; thus all things 
which intimate His will to us are so 
many names, so many words, by which 
He manifests His desires. This will 
is one in itself ; it bears but one incom- 
prehensible, ineffable name ; but it is 
multiplied infinitely in its effects, and 
assumes their names. To sanctify the 
name of God is to study, adore, and 
love the ineffable Being whom this 
name represents. It is also to study, 
adore, and love His blessed will at all 
times, in all its effects ; regarding all 
things as so many veils, shadows, 
names of this eternally holy will. It is 
holy in all its works, holy in all its 
words, holy in all its forms of manifes- 
tation, holy in all the names it bears. 

It was thus Job blessed the name of 
God. The holy man blessed his ter- 



104 Holy Aba?idon)nent. 

rible desolation which expressed the 
will of God: he called it not ruin, but a 
name of the Lord ; and blessing it he 
declared that this divine will expressed 
by the most terrible afflictions was ever 
holy, whatever form, whatever name it 
bore. David also blessed it at all times 
and in all places. Therefore it is by 
this continual manifestation, this reve- 
lation of the will of God in all things 
that His kingdom is within us that 
His will is done upon earth as it is in 
heaven, that He gives us our daily 
bread. 

Abandonment to the divine will con- 
tains the substance of that incompar- 
able prayer which Christ Himself has 
taught us We repeat it vocally many 
times a day according to the order of 
God and His holy Church ; but we 
utter it in the depth of our hearts each 
moment that we lovingly receive or 
suffer whatever is ordained by this 
adorable will. What the lips need 
words and time to express, the heart 
effectively utters with each pulsation , 
and thus simple souls unceasingly bless 
Him in the depth of their hearts. They 
sigh nevertheless over their inability to 



Manifestations of the Present Moment. 105 

praise Him as they desire : so true it 
is that God gives His graces and favors 
to such souls by the very means which 
seem to deprive them of these bless- 
ings. This is the secret of the divine 
wisdom — to impoverish the senses while 
it enriches the heart, and to fill the 
heart in proportion to the aching void 
in the senses. 

Let us learn then to recognize in the 
event of each moment the imprint of 
the will of God, of His adorable name. 
This name is infinitely holy. It is but 
just therefore to bless it and receive it 
as a form of sacrament which by its own 
virtue sanctifies the souls in which it 
finds no obstacle to its grace. Can we 
do other than infinitely esteem that 
which bears this august name ? It is a 
divine manna which falls from heaven 
to continually strengthen us in grace. 
It is a kingdom of holiness which is es- 
tablished in the soul. It is the bread 
of angels which is given upon earth as 
it is in heaven. No moment can be 
unimportant since they all contain 
treasures of grace, angelic food. 

Yes, Lord, let Thy kingdom come to 
my heart to sanctify it, to nourish it, to 



106 Holy Abandonment. 

purify it, to render it victorious over 
my enemies. Precious moment ! how 
insignificant thou art to the eyes of the 
world, but how grand to the eyes en- 
lightened by faith ! And can I call that 
little which is great in the eyes of my 
Father who reigns in heaven? All that 
comes thence is most excellent. All 
that descends therefrom bears the im- 
press of its origin. 



CHAPTER XL 

The Divine Will imparts the Highest Sanc- 
tity to Souls ; they have but to abandon 
Themselves to its Divine Action. 

It is only because they know not 
how to proiit by the divine action that 
so many Christians spend their lives 
anxiously seeking hither and thither a 
multitude of means of sanctification; 
these are profitable when the divine 
will ordains them, but become in- 
jurious the moment they prevent one 
from simply uniting himself with the 
will of God. These multiplied means 
cannot give what we will find in the 
will of God — that principle of all life, 
which is ever present with us, and 



Sanctification by the Divine Will. 107* 

which imparts to its every instrument 
an original and incomparable action. 

Jesus has sent us a master whom we 
do not heed. He speaks to all hearts, and 
to each one he utters the word of life, 
the incomparable word ; but we hear 
it not. We would know what he says 
to others, and we hearken not to what 
is said to us. We do not sufficiently 
regard things in the supernatural light 
which the divine action gives them. 
We must always receive and worthily 
meet the divine action with an open 
heart, full confidence and generosity; 
for to those who thus receive it it can 
work no ill. This illimitable action, 
which from the beginning to the end of 
all ages is ever the same in itself, flows 
on through all moments, and gives it- 
self in its immensity and its virtue to 
the simple soul which adores it, loves 
it, and solely rejoices in it. You would 
be enraptured, you say, to find an oc- 
casion of sacrificing your life for God; 
such heroism enchants you. To lose 
all, to die forsaken and alone, to sacri- 
fice one's self for others — such are the 
glorious deeds which enchant you. 

But let me, O Lord, render glory, all 



10S Holy Abandonment. 

glory, to Thy divine action! In it I 
find the happiness of the martyrs, au- 
sterities and sacrifice of self for others. 
This action, this will, sufficeth me. 
Whatever life or death it ordains for 
me I am content. It pleases me in it- 
self far more than all its instruments 
and its effects, since it permeates all 
things, renders them divine, and trans- 
forms them into itself. It maketh 
heaven for me everywhere; all my 
moments are purely filled with the di- 
vine action; and living or dying, it is 
my sole contentment. 

Yes, my Beloved, I will cease to pre- 
scribe Thee hours or methods; Thou 
shalt be ever welcome. O divine action, 
Thou seemest to have revealed me Thy 
immensity. I will but walk henceforth 
in the bosom of Thy infinity. The tide 
of Thy power flows to-day as it flowed 
yesterday. Thy foundation is the bed 
of the torrent whence graces unceas- 
ingly flow; Thou holdest the waters 
thereof in Thy hand, and movest them 
at will. No longer will I seek Thee 
within the narrow limits of a book, the 
life of a saint, a sublime thought. No: 
these are but drops of that great ocean 



Sanctification by the Divine Will. 109 

which embraces all creatures. The 
divine action inundates them fill. They 
are but atoms which sink into this 
abyss. No longer will I seek this ac- 
tion in spiritual intercourse. No more 
will I beg my bread from door to door. 
I will depend upon no creature. 

Yes, Lord, I would live to Thy honor 
as the worthy child of a true Father, in- 
finitely good, wise, and powerful. I 
would live as I believe, and since the 
divine action labors incessantly and by 
means of all things for my sanctification, 
I would draw my life from this great 
and boundless reservoir, ever present, 
and ever practically available. Is there 
a creature whose action equals that of 
God ? And since this uncreated hand di- 
rects all that comes to me, shall I go in 
search of aid from creatures who are im- 
potent, ignorant, and indifferent to me? 
I was dying of thirst; I ran from foun- 
tain to fountain, from stream to stream; 
and behold at hand was a source which 
caused a deluge; water surrounded me 
on all sides ! Yes, everything becomes 
bread to nourish me, water to cleanse 
me, fire to purify me, a chisel to give 
me celestial form. Everything is an 



no Holy Abandonment. 

instrument of grace for my necessities; 
that which I sought in other things 
seeks me incessantly and gives itself to 
me by means of all creatures. 

O Love ! will men never see that Thou 
meetest them at every step, while they 
seek Thee hither and thither, where Thou 
art not ? When in the open country, 
what folly not to breathe its pure air; 
to pause and study my steps when the 
path is smooth before me; to thirst 
when the flood encompasses me; to 
hunger for God when I may find Him, 
relish Him, and receive His will through 
all things f 

Seek you, dear souls, the secret of 
union with God ? There is none other 
than to avail yourselves of all that He 
sends you. All things may further this 
union; all things perfect it, save sin, 
and that which is contrary to your 
duty. You have but to accept all that 
He sends and let it do its work in you. 

Everything is a banner to guide you, 
a stay to uphold you, an easy and safe 
vehicle to bear you on. 

Everything is the hand of God. 
Everything is earth, air, and water to 
the soul. God's action is more uni- 



Sa?ictification by the Divine Will. 1 1 1 

versally present than the elements. 
His grace penetrates you through all 
your senses provided you but use them 
according to His order; for you must 
guard and close them to all that is 
not His will. There is not an atom 
which, entering your frame, may not 
cause this divine action to penetrate to 
the very marrow of your bones. It is 
the source and origin of all things. 
The vital fluid which flows in your 
veins moves only by order of the divine 
will; all the variations of your system, 
strength or weakness, languor or vigor, 
life or death, are but the instruments 
with which the divine action effects 
your sanctification. Under its influence 
all physical conditions become opera- 
tions of grace. All your thoughts, all 
your emotions, whatever their apparent 
source, proceed from this invisible hand, 
No created mind or heart can teach you 
what this divine action will do in you; 
you will learn it by successive experi- 
ence. Your life unceasingly flows into 
this incomprehensible abyss, where we 
have but to love and accept as best that 
which the present moment brings, with 
perfect confidence in this divine action 



ii2 Holy Abandonment. 

which of itself can only work you 
good. 

Yes, my Beloved, all souls might at- 
tain supernatural, admirable, incon- 
ceivably sublime states if they would 
but submit themselves to Thy divine 
action ! Yes, if they would but yield to 
this divine hand the would attain emi- 
nent sanctity. All could reach it, since 
it is offered to all. You have but to 
open your heart and it will enter of it- 
self: for there is no soul which does not 
possess in Thee, my God, its infinitely 
perfect model; no soul in which Thy 
divine action labors not unceasingly to 
render it like unto Thy image. If they 
were faithful they would all live, act, 
speak divinely; they need only copy 
one another; the divine action would 
signalize each one of them through the 
most ordinary things. 

How, O my God ! can I cause Thy 
creatures to relish what I advance ? 
Must I, possessing a treasure capable of 
enriching all, see souls perish in their 
poverty ? Must I see them die like 
desert plants when I point out to them 
the source of living waters ? Come, 
simple souls, who have no feeling of 



Sanctification by the Divine Will. 1 1 3 

devotion whatever, no talent, not even 
the first elements of instruction, — you 
who understand nothing of spiritual 
terms, who are filled with admiration 
and astonishment by the eloquence of 
the learned, — come and I will teach you 
the secret of excelling these brilliant 
intellects; and I will make perfection so 
attainable that you will find it within 
you, about you, around you, at every 
step. I will unite you to God, and He 
will hold you by the hand from the 
moment you begin to practise what I 
tell you. Come, not to learn the chart 
of this spiritual country, but to possess 
it, and to walk at ease therein without 
fear of going astray. Come, not to 
study the theory of divine grace, nor 
to learn what it has effected in all ages 
and is still effecting, but to be simply 
the subjects of its operations. You 
have no need to learn and ingenuously 
repeat the words addressed to others: 
divine grace shall utter to you alone all 
that you require. 



1 14 Holy Abandonment. 



CHAPTER XII. 

The Divine Action alone can sanctify us, for 
it forms us after the Divine Model of our 
Perfection. 

The divine action executes in time 
the designs of the eternal Wisdom in 
regard to all things. God alone can 
make known to each soul the design 
which it is destined to realize. Though 
you read the will of God in regard to 
others, this knowledge cannot direct you 
in anything. In the Word, in God 
Himself, is the design after which you 
should be formed, and after which you 
are modelled by the divine action. In 
the Word the divine action finds that 
to which every soul may be conformed. 
Holy Scripture contains a portion of 
this design, and the work of the Holy 
Spirit in souls completes it after the 
model which the Word presents. Is it 
not evident that the only secret for re- 
ceiving the impress of this eternal de- 
sign is to be passively submissive in 
His hands, and that no intellectual 
effort or speculation will help us to at- 
tain it? Is it not manifest that skill, in- 



The Divine Action alone can Sanctify. 115 

telligence, or subtlety of mind will not 
effect this work, but passive self-aban- 
donment to the divine will, yielding 
ourselves like metal to the mould, like 
canvas to the brush, or like stone to the 
sculptor? It is clear that a knowledge 
of the divine mysteries which the will 
of God effects in all ages is not what 
renders us conformable to the design 
which the Word has conceived for us. 
No: it is the impress of the divine Hand; 
and this imprint is not graven in the 
mind through the medium of thought, 
but upon the will through its submis- 
sion to the will of God. 

The wisdom of the simple soul con- 
sists in contentment with what is suit- 
able to her, in confining herself to the 
sphere of her duties, and in never going 
beyond its boundary. She is not cu- 
rious to know the secrets of the divine 
economy: she is content with God's 
will in her regard, never striving to de- 
cipher its hidden meaning by conjec- 
ture or comparison, desiring to know no 
more than each moment reveals, listen- 
ing to the voice of the Word when it 
speaks in the depth of her heart, never 
asking what the Spouse of her soul 



n6 Holy Abandonment. 

utters to others, contenting herself with 
what she receives in the depth of her 
soul; so that from moment to moment 
all things, however insignificant or 
whatever their nature, sanctify her un- 
consciously to herself. Thus the Be- 
loved speaks to His spouse by the pal- 
pable effects of His action, which the 
spouse does not curiously study, but 
accepts with loving gratitude. There- 
fore the spirituality of this soul is 
simple, most solid, and interwoven with 
her whole being. Neither tumultuous 
thoughts nor words influence her con- 
duct; for these, when not the instru- 
ments of divine grace, only inflate the 
mind. Many there are who assign an 
important part to intellect in piety, yet 
it is of little account therein, and not 
unfrequently prejudicial. We must 
make use of that only which Godsends 
us to do and suffer. Yet many of us 
leave this divine essential to occupy 
our minds with the historic wonders of 
the divine work, instead of increasing 
these wonders by our fidelity. 

The marvels of this work which 
gratify the curiosity of our readings 
serve only to disgust us with the ap- 



The Divine Action alone can Sanctify. 117 

parently unimportant events through 
which, if we despise them not, the di- 
vine love effects great things in us. 
Foolish creatures that we are ! We 
admire, we bless, this divine action in 
its written history; but when it would 
continue to write its gospel in our 
hearts, we hold the paper in continual 
unrest, and we impede its action by 
our curiosity to know what it effects in 
us and what it effects elsewhere. 

Pardon, divine Love, for I am writing 
my own defects, and I have not yet 
learned what it is to abandon myself 
to Thy hand. I have not yet yielded 
myself to the mould. I have walked 
through Thy divine studios, I have ad- 
mired all Thy works, but I have not 
yet learned the needful self-abandon- 
ment to receive the marks of Thy pen- 
cil. At last I have found Thee, my dear 
Master, my Teacher, my Father, my 
dear Love! I will be Thy disciple; I 
will learn in no other school but Thine. 
I return like the prodigal hungering for 
Thy bread. I abandon the ideas which 
only serve to gratify my curiosity. I 
will no longer seek after masters or 
books; no, I will use these means only 



1 1 8 Holy Abandonment. 

as Thy divine will ordains them, and 
then not for my gratification, but to 
obey Thee by accepting all that Thou 
sendest me. I would confine myself 
solely to the duty of the present moment 
in order to prove my love, fulfil my ob- ' 
ligations, and leave thee free to do with 
me what Thou wilt. 



Self -abandoned Souls Guided by God. 119 



Book &hiro. 

The Paternal Care with which God sur- 
rounds Souls wholly abandoned to Him. 



CHAPTER 



God Himself guides Souls who wholly 
abandon themselves to Him. 

Sacrificate sacrificium justifies, et sperate 
in Domino: Sacrifice, saith the prophet, a 
sacrifice of justice and hoy in the Lord. 
That is to say that the grand and solid 
foundation of the spiritual life is to give 
one's self to God to be the subject of 
His good pleasure in all things, inte- 
riorly as well as exteriorly, and to so ut- 
terly forget self that we regard it as a 
thing sold and delivered, to which we 
have no longer any right; so that our 
joy consists wholly in the good pleasure 
of God, and His honor and glory are 
our sole contentment. 

This foundation laid, the soul has but 
to pass her life rejoicing that God is 
God, abandoning herself so completely 



120 Holy Abandonment. 

to His good pleasure that she is equally 
content to do one thing as another, ac- 
cording as this good pleasure directs, 
never even pausing to reflect upon the 
disposition which is made of her by the 
will of God. 

Self-abandonment! this, then, is the 
grand duty which remains to be ful- 
filled after one has faithfully acquitted 
himself of all the obligations of his 
state. The perfection with which this 
grand duty is accomplished is the meas- 
ure of one's sanctity. 

A holy soul is a soul who, with the 
aid of grace, freely abandons herself to 
the divine will. All that follows this 
pure self-abandonment is the work of 
God and not of man. God asks noth- 
ing more of this soul than to blindly 
receive all that He sends, in a spirit of 
submission and universal indifference 
to the instruments of His will; the rest 
He determines and chooses according 
to His designs for the soul as an archi- 
tect arranges and selects his materials 
according to the edifice he would con- 
struct. 

In all things, therefore, we must love 
God and His order; we must love it as 



Self -abandoned Souls Guided by God. 121 

it is presented to us without desiring 
more. It is for God, not for us, to de- 
termine the objects of our submission, 
and what He sends is best for the soul. 
What a grand epitome of spirituality is 
this maxim of pure and absolute self- 
abandonment to the will of God! Self- 
abandonment, that continual forgetful- 
ness of self which leaves the soul free 
to eternally love and obey God, untrou- 
bled by those fears, reflections, regrets, 
and anxieties which the care of one's 
own perfection and salvation gives ! 
Since God offers to take upon Himself 
the care of our affairs, let us once for 
all abandon them to His infinite wis- 
dom, that we may never more be occu- 
pied with aught but Him and His in- 
terests. 

Arise, then, my soul; let us walk with 
uplifted head above all that is passing 
about us and within us, ever content 
with God — content with what He does 
with us, and with what He gives us to do. 
Let us beware of imprudently falling a 
prey to those numerous disquieting re- 
flections which, like so many tangled 
labyrinths, entrap the mind into useless, 
endless wanderings. Let us avoid this 



122 Holy Abandonment. 

snare of self-love by springing over 
it, and not by following its interminable 
windings. 

Onward, my soul, through weariness, 
sickness, dryness, infirmities of temper, 
weakness of mind, snares of the devil 
and of men, their suspicions, jealousies, 
evil thoughts, and prejudices! Let us 
soar like the eagle above all these clouds, 
our eyes fixed upon the Sun of Justice, 
and its rays which are our obligations. 
Doubtless we may feel these trials; it 
does not depend upon us to be insensi- 
ble to them. But let us remember that 
our life is not a life of sentiment. Let 
us live in this superior part of the soul 
where God and His will work out for 
us an ever uniform, equable, immutable 
eternity. In this wholly spiritual dwell- 
ing where the Uncreated, the Ineffable, 
the Infinite holds the soul immeasur- 
ably separated from all shadows and 
created atoms, reigns perpetual calm, 
even though the senses be the prey of 
tempests. We have learned to rise 
above the senses; their restlessness, 
their disquiet, their comings and goings, 
and their hundred transformations dis- 
turb us no more than the clouds which 



Self -abandoned Souls Guided by God. 123 

darken the sky for a moment and dis- 
appear. We know that in the region of 
the senses all things are like the wind, 
without sequence or order, in continual 
vicissitude. God's will forms the eter- 
nal charm of the heart in the state of 
faith, just as in the state of glory it 
shall constitute its true happiness; and 
this glorious state of the heart will in- 
fluence the whole material being at 
present a prey to terrors and tempta- 
tions. Under these appearances, how- 
ever terrible they may be, the action of 
God, giving to the material being a 
facility wholly divine, will cause it to 
shine like the sun; for the faculties of 
the sensitive soul and those of the body 
are prepared here below like gold, iron, 
flax, and stone. And like these differ- 
ent substances they will attain the 
purity and splendor of their form only 
after they have passed through many 
processes and suffered loss and de- 
struction. All that we endure here 
below at the hand of God is intended 
as a preparation for our future state. 

The faithful soul who knows the 
secret of God's ways dwells in perfect 
peace; and all that transpires within 



124 Holy Abandonment. 

her, so far from alarming, only reas- 
sures her. Intimately convinced that 
it is God who guides her, she accepts 
everything as a grace, and lives wholly 
forgetful of self, the object upon which 
God labors, that she may think only of 
the work committed to her care. Her 
love unceasingly animates the courage 
which enables her to faithfully and 
carefully fulfil her obligations. 

Except the sins of a self-abandoned 
soul, which are light, and even con- 
verted to her good by the divine will, 
there is nothing distinctly manifest in her 
but the action of grace. And this action 
is distinctly manifest in all those pain- 
ful or consoling impressions by means 
of which the divine will unceasingly 
works the soul's good. I use the term 
"distinctly manifest," for of all that 
transpires within the soul, these im- 
pressions are what it best distinguishes. 
To find God under all these appear- 
ances is the great art of faith; to make 
everything a means of uniting one's self 
with God is the exercise of faith. 



Self -abandoned Souls Guided by God. 125 



CHAPTER II. 

The more God seems to withdraw Light 
from the Soul abandoned to His Direction, 
the more Safely He guides Her. 

It is particularly in souls wholly 
abandoned to God that the words of 
St. John are accomplished: You have 
no need that any man teach you; but as Mis 
unction teacheth you of all things. To 
know what God asks of them, they have 
but to consult this unction, to sound the 
heart, to heed its voice; it interprets the 
will of God according to their present 
needs. For the divine action disguised 
reveals its designs, not by thoughts, but 
by intuition. It manifests them to the 
soul either by necessity, leaving it but 
the one present course to choose, or by 
a first impulse, a sort of supernatural 
transport which impels to action with- 
out reflection, or, finally, by a certain at- 
traction or repulsion which, while leav- 
ing the soul perfect liberty, no less at- 
tracts it to or withdraws it from ob- 
jects. 

Were we to judge by appearances, it 
would seem most unwise to thus pur- 



126 Holy Abandonment. 

sue a course so uncertain; a course of 
conduct in which, according to ordinary 
rules, we find nothing stable, uniform, 
or regular. It is nevertheless at bottom 
the highest state of virtue, and one 
which usually is only attained after 
long exercise therein. The virtue of 
this state is virtue in all its purity; in 
fact, it is perfection. The soul is like a 
musician who to long practice unites 
great knowledge of music; he is so full 
of his art that, without any effort, all 
that he does therein is perfection; and 
if his compositions be examined, they 
will be found in perfect conformity with 
prescribed rules. One is convinced that 
he will never succeed better than when 
he acts without restraint, untrammelled 
by rules which fetter genius when too 
scrupulously followed; and his im- 
promptus, like so many masterpieces, 
are the admiration of connoisseurs. 

Thus the soul, after long exercise in 
the science and practice of perfection 
under the empire of reason and the 
methods with which she aids grace, in- 
sensibly forms a habit of acting in all 
things by divine instinct. Such a soul 
seems to intuitively accept as best the 



Self-abandoned Souls Guided by God. 127 

first duty that presents itself, without 
resorting to the reasoning which she 
formerly found necessary. 

She has only to act according to cir- 
cumstances, unable to do anything but 
abandon herself to that grace which 
can never mislead her. The work of a 
soul in this state of simplicity is nothing 
less than marvellous to eyes and minds 
divinely enlightened. Without rule, 
yet exactness itself; without measure, 
yet nothing better proportioned; with- 
out reflection, yet nothing more pro- 
found; without ingenuity, yet nothing 
better managed; without effort, yet 
nothing more effiacious; without fore- 
thought, yet nothing better fitted to 
unforeseen events. 

The divine action frequently gives by 
means of spiritual reading knowledge 
which the authors never possessed. 
God makes use of the words and actions 
of others to inspire hidden truths. If 
He wills to enlighten us by such means, 
it is the part of the self-abandoned soul 
to accept them; and all means which 
become the instrument of the divine 
will possess an efficacy far surpassing 
their natural and apparent virtue. 



128 Holy Abandonment. 

A life of self-abandonment is char- 
acterized by mystery; it is a life which 
receives from God extraordinary mi- 
raculous gifts through commonplace, 
fortuitous events, chance encounters, 
where nothing is visible to human eyes 
but the ordinary workings of men's 
minds and the natural course of the 
elements. Thus the simplest sermons, 
the most commonplace conversations, 
the least elevating books, become to 
these souls by virtue of the will of God 
sources of intelligence and wisdom. 
Therefore they carefully gather the 
crumbs of wisdom which the worldly- 
wise trample under foot. Everything 
is precious to them, everything enriches 
them; so that, while supremely indif- 
ferent to all things, they neglect or 
despise nothing, drawing profit from 
all. 

When we behold God in all things, 
and use them by His order, it is not 
using creatures, but enjoying the divine 
action which transmits its gifts though 
these different channels. They are not 
of themselves sanctifying, but only as 
instruments of the divine action which 
can and frequently does communicate 



Afflictions but Loving A?-tiJices. 129 

its graces to simple souls by means ap- 
parently contrary to the end proposed. 
Yes, divine grace can enlighten with 
clay as with the most subtle material, 
and its instrument is always efficacious. 
All things are alike to it. Faith never 
feels any need; she complains not of 
the lack of means apparently necessary 
to her advancement, for the divine 
Workman for whom she labors supplies 
all deficiencies by His will. This holy 
will is the whole virtue of all creatures. 



CHAPTER III. 

The Afflictions with which God visits the 
Soul are but Loving Artifices at which she 
will One Day rejoice. 

Souls who walk in light sing canticles 
of joy; those who walk amid shadows 
sing anthems of woe. Let one and 
the other sing to the end the portion 
and anthem God assigns them. We 
must add nothing to what He has com- 
pleted. There must flow every drop of 
this gall of divine bitterness with which 
He wills to inebriate them. Behold 
Jeremias and Ezechiel: their's was the 
language of sighs and lamentations, 



130 Holy Abandonment. 

and their only consolation was in the 
continuation of their lament. He who 
would have dried their tears would 
have deprived us of the most beautiful 
portions of the Holy Scriptures. The 
spirit that afflicts is the only one which 
can console. The streams of sorrow and 
consolation flow from the same source. 
When God astonishes a soul she must 
needs tremble; when He menaces,, she 
cannot but fear. We have but to leave 
the divine operation to its own develop- 
ment; it bears within itself the remedy 
as well as the trial. Weep, dear souls; 
tremble, suffer disquiet and anguish; 
make no effort to escape these divine 
terrors, these heavenly lamentations. 
Receive into the depth of your being 
the waters of that sea of bitterness 
, which inundated the soul of Christ. 
Continue to sow in tears at the will of 
divine grace, and insensibly by the same 
will their source shall be dried. The 
clouds will dissolve, the sun will shed its 
light, the springtime will strew your 
path with flowers, and your self-aban- 
donment will manifest to you the whole 
extent of the admirable variety of the 
divine action. 



Afflictions bid Loving Artifices. 131 

Truly, man disquiets himself in vain' 
All that passes within him is like a 
dream. One shadow follows and ef- 
faces another, just as the fancies of 
sleep succeed one another, some troub- 
ling, others delighting, the mind. Man 
is the sport of these imaginations which 
consume one another, and the grand 
awakening will show the equal empti- 
ness of them all. It will dissipate all 
illusions, and he will no longer heed the 
perils or fortunes of this dream called 
life. 

Lord, can it not be said that Thy 
children sleep in Thy bosom during all 
the night of faith, while at Thy pleasure 
Thou fillest their souls with an infinite 
number and infinite variety of experi- 
ences which are in reality but holy and 
mysterious reveries ? In this obscure 
night of the soul they are filled with 
veritable and awful terrors, with an- 
guish and weariness which on the glori- 
ous day Thou wilt change into true and 
solid joys. 

At their awakening, holy souls, re- 
stored to a clearer vision and fuller 
consciousness, will never weary admir- 
ing the skill, the art, the invention, the 



132 Holy Abandonment. 

loving artifices of the Bridegroom. 
They will comprehend how impenetra- 
ble are His ways, how surpassing com- 
prehension are His devices, how be- 
yond discovery His disguises, how im- 
possible consolation when He willed 
that they should mourn. On the day 
of this awakening the Jeremias and the 
Davids will see that that which wrought 
their bitterest pain was subject of re- 
joicing to God and the angels. Wake 
not the spouse, worldly-wise, industri- 
ous minds filled with self-activity; leave 
her to sigh and tremblingly seek for the 
Bridegroom. True, He eludes her, and 
disguises Himself; she sleeps, and her 
griefs are but as the phantoms which 
come with night and sleep. But disturb 
her not; let the Bridegroom work upon 
this cherished soul and depict in her 
what He alone can paint or express. 
Leave Him to develop the result of this 
state. He will awake her when it is 
time. Joseph causes Benjamin to weep; 
servants of Joseph, reveal not his secret 
to this cherished brother ! The artifice 
of Joseph is beyond the penetration 
of Benjamin. He and his poor brothers 
are plunged in grief; they see naught in 






God Generous to Self -abandoned Souls. 133 

the loving artifice of Joseph but irreme- 
diable suffering. Enlighten them not: 
He will remedy all; He will reveal 
himself to them, and they will admire 
the wisdom of Him who out of so much 
woe and desolation wrought the truest 
joy they have ever known. 



CHAPTER IV. 

The more God seems to take from a Soul 
wholly abandoned to Him, the more Gen- 
erous He is to her. 

But let us go on in the study of the 
divine action and its loving artifices. 
What the divine action seems to take 
from a good will it gives in disguise, so 
to speak. It never leaves a good will 
in need. For example, if we relieved 
the necessities of a friend with gener- 
ous gifts, allowing him to know they 
came from us, but later, in his interest 
making a feint of withholding our 
gifts while continuing to secretly as- 
sist him, the friend, not suspecting 
the ruse or comprehending the kindly 
artifice, is grieved and hurt. Bitter 
reflections and unkind thoughts of his 
benefactor torment him. But when the 



134 Holy Abandonment. 

loving ruse is revealed to him, imagine 
the joy, the confusion, the love, the 
shame, the gratitude, which overwhelm 
him ! And are not his zeal and love 
for his benefactor greater henceforth ? 
And has not the trial only strengthened 
his love and made it proof against any 
similar misunderstandings in the fu- 
ture ? 

The application is simple. The more 
we seem to lose with God, the more we 
really gain ; the more He deprives us of 
natural aid, the more He gives us of 
supernatural. We loved Him a little 
for His gifts, but these being no longer 
visible we come to love Him for Him- 
self. It is by the apparent withdrawal 
of these sensible gifts and favors that 
He prepares us for Himself, the great- 
est of all gifts. The souls once wholly 
submissive to the divine action should 
always interpret all things fuvorably — ' 
yes, were it the loss of the most excellent 
of directors, were it the distrust which 
they feel in spite of themselves for those 
who too readily offer to fill his place; 
for usually the guides who of them- 
selves seek the direction of souls merit 
a little distrust. Those who are truly 



God Generous to Self -abandoned Souls. 135 

animated by the Spirit of God are not 
ordinarily so impetuous or self-confi- 
dent : they are sought, they do not offer 
themselves, and never cease to distrust 
themselves. 

Let the soul that has wholly given 
herself to God walk fearlessly through 
all these trials, letting none of them de- 
prive her of her liberty. Provided she 
be faithful to the divine action, this all- 
powerful action will work wonders in 
her despite all obstacles. God and the 
soul are engaged in the same work, the 
success of which, though depending en- 
tirely on the action of the divine Work- 
man, may nevertheless be compromised 
by the infidelity of the soul. 

When it is well with the soul, all goes 
well; for that which is of God — that is, 
His part and action— are, so to speak, 
the rebound of the soul's fidelity. It is 
the right side of the work which, like 
those famous tapestries, are done stitch 
by stitch on the wrong side. The work- 
man engaged thereon sees but his needle 
and the canvas, every little hole of 
which is successively filled, forming a 
beautiful design which is only visible 
however,when every detail is completed, 



136 Holy Abandonment. 

and the right side is held up to view, 
but during the process of the work all 
its beauty and its marvels were unseen. 
And thus it is with the self-abandon- 
ed soul : it sees only God and its duty. 
The fulfilment of the duty of each mo- 
ment is but the addition of an imper- 
ceptible point, and yet it is by means of 
these apparent trifles that God effects 
His wonders. We are given a present- 
ment of these wonders at times here 
below, but we shall only understand 
them in the light of eternity. How full 
of wisdom and goodness are the ways of 
God! He has made all that is great, ele- 
vating and ennobling so completely the 
work of His grace and action, leaving 
to the soul what is easy and simple to 
be accomplished with the aid of grace, 
that there is no one who cannot attain 
eminent sanctity by the loving fulfil- 
ment of obscure and humble duties. 



CHAPTER V. 
The less Capable the Faithful Soul is of de- 
fending Herself, the more Powerfully does 
God defend Her. 

The supreme and infallible work of 
the divine action is always opportunely 



God Defends the Faithful Soul. 137 

applied to the simple soul, and she in 
all things wisely corresponds to its in- 
timate direction. She accepts all that 
comes to her, all that transpires, all 
that she feels — all, all save sin; some- 
times consciously, sometimes uncon- 
sciously, being impelled, not by any 
reason, but by an indistinct impulse, to 
speak, to act, or not to act. 

Frequently the occasion and the rea- 
son which determine her course are 
merely of the natural order ; the sim- 
ple soul sees no mystery therein, but 
pure chance, necessity, conventional- 
ity; it is nothing in her eyes or those 
of others: and yet the divine action, 
which is the wisdom, the counsel, the 
knowledge of its friends, causes these 
simple things to work their good. It 
appropriates them and turns them so 
energetically against the schemes of the 
faithful soul's enemies, that it is impos- 
sible for them to injure her. 

The divine action frees the soul from 
the petty anxious schemes so necessary 
to human prudence. Such precautions 
are suitable for Herod and the Phari- 
sees: but the Magi have but to follow 
their star in peace ; the Babe has but 



138 Holy Abandonment. 

to rest in His Mother's arms ; His ene- 
mies advance His cause more than they 
injure it ; the more they seek to thwart 
and overwhelm it, the more peacefully 
and freely He advances. He will not 
court or temporize with them to turn . 
their attacks from Him ; their jeal- 
ousies, their distrust, their persecutions, 
are necessary to Him. Thus lived Jesus 
in Judea; and He still lives after this 
manner in simple souls, where He is 
generous, gentle, free, peaceful; fearing 
and needing no creature, but beholding 
them all in the hands of His Father; 
eager to turn them to His service, some 
through their criminal passions, others 
through their good actions, others 
through their obedience and submis- 
sion. 

The divine action marvellously ad- 
justs all these things : there is neither 
too little nor too much; no more good 
and evil than needful. 

The order of God sends each moment 
the appropriate instrument for its work; 
and the simple soul enlightened by 
faith finds all things good, desiring 
neither more nor less than she possess- 
es. At all times she blesses the di- 



God Defends the Faithful Soul. 139 

vine Hand which so carefully supplies 
her needs and frees her from obstacles; 
she receives friends and foes with equal 
sweetness, for it is the way of Jesus to 
treat the whole world as a divine in- 
strument. We want for none, and yet 
we have need of all ; the divine action 
renders all necessary, and we must re- 
ceive all from it, accepting each thing 
according to its nature and quality, and 
corresponding thereto with sweetness 
and humility, treating the simple with 
simplicity, the ungentle with gentle- 
ness, after the teaching of St. Paul and 
the more beautiful practice of the di- 
vine Master. 

Divine grace alone can imprint that 
supernatural character which adapts it- 
self so marvellously to each individual 
nature. It is not learned from books ; 
it is a true spirit of prophecy, and the 
effect of intimate revelation ; it is the 
teaching of the Holy Spirit. To con- 
ceive it one must have attained the 
highest degree of self-abandonment and 
the most perfect detachment from all 
plans and interests, however holy they 
may be. We must keep before our eyes 
the one important thing in this world, 



140 Holy Abandonment. 

viz., the passive abandonment to the 
divine action which is required of us in 
order to devote ourselves to the duties 
of our state, leaving the Holy Spirit to 
operate interiorly, indifferent as to what 
He operates upon, even happy not to 
know it. Then, then we are safe ; for 
all the events of the world can only 
work the good of souls perfectly sub- 
missive to the divine will of God. 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Soul abandoned to the Will of God, so 
far from resisting her Enemies, finds in 
them Useful Auxiliaries. 
I fear my own action and that of my 
friends more than I do my enemies. 
There is no prudence equal to that of 
offering no resistance to one's enemies 
but that of simple abandonment to the 
will of God; nothing which so fully 
insures our peace; it is rowing with 
the tide, sailing with a wind which 
swiftly brings us into port. There is 
nothing better than simplicity with 
which to meet the prudence of this 
world; it skilfully, though unconsci- 
ously, evades its snares without even 
thinking of them. 



The Soul's Ejiemies Useful Atixiliaries. 141 

Dealing with a simple soul is, in a 
measure, dealing with God. Who can 
cope with the Almighty, whose ways 
are inscrutable ? God espouses the 
cause of the simple soul; she has no 
need to study the intrigues of her ene- 
mies, to meet their activity with equal 
alertness, watching all their move- 
ments: her Spouse relieves her of all 
this; she confides all to Him, and then 
rests on His breast in peace and se- 
curity. The divine action inspires her 
with measures so just that they who 
sought to surprise her are themselves 
surprised. She benefits by all their 
efforts, and rises by the very means 
with which they sought to abase her. 
All contradictions turn to her good; 
and by leaving her enemies to work 
their will she draws so great and con- 
tinual profit from them that all she need 
fear is that she may interfere in a work 
in which God wills to be the chief 
actor, using her enemies as His instru- 
ments, and in which the soul has no 
other part than to peacefully watch 
the working of the divine will and fol- 
low its guidance with simplicity. 

The supernatural prudence of the 



142 Holy Abandonment. 

divine Spirit, the principle of these at- 
tractions, unerringly seizes the end 
and intimate relations of each event, 
and, all unknown to the soul, so dis- 
poses them for her spiritual welfare 
that all which opposes itself thereto 
must inevitably be destroyed. 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Soul who abandons Herself to God 
has no Need to justify Herself by Words 
or Actions : the Divine Action justifies 
Her. 

The broad, solid, firm rock upon 
which the faithful soul stands sheltered 
from tides and storms is the order of 
the divine will, which is ever present 
with us, veiled under crosses or the 
most ordinary duties. Behind these 
shadows is hidden God's Hand, which 
sustains and upholds those who aban- 
don themselves to Him. 

The moment the soul is firmly estab- 
lished in this perfect self-abandonment 
she is henceforth safe from the contra- 
diction of tongues, for she ceases to have 
anything to do or say in her own de- 
fence. Since the work is God's, from 



Faithful Souls need no Justification. 143 

no other source must its justification 
be sought. Its consequences and 
effects will sufficiently justify it. We 
have but to leave it to its own develop- 
ment. Dies diei eructat verbum. 

When we are no longer guided by 
our own ideas we need not defend our- 
selves by words. Our words can only 
represent our ideas, and where an ab- 
sence of ideas is admitted no words 
are needed. Of what avail are they ? 
To give a reason for what we do ? But 
we know not this reason; it is hidden 
in the principle which animates our 
actions, and which impresses us only in 
a most ineffable manner. 

We must therefore leave to the re- 
sults of our actions the task of justify- 
ing their principle. All is metely sus- 
tained in this divine procession; every- 
thing therein has a firm and solid 
basis, and the reason for that which 
precedes is manifest in the result 
which follows. It is no longer a life 
of thought, imagination, multiplied 
words: these no longer occupy, nourish, 
or sustain the soul. She no longer 
knows where she walks, or where her 
path may lie in the future; she ceases 



144 Holy Abandonment 

to incite herself with reflections to bear 
the toils and fatigues of the route; her 
strength lies in an intimate conviction 
of her own weakness. A way is opened 
to her feet; she enters and walks un- 
hesitatingly therein with pure, straight- 
forward, simple faith; she follows the 
straight path of the commandments, 
leaning upon God Himself, whom she 
finds at every turn of the way; and this 
God, the sole object of her life, will 
take her justification upon Himself, 
and so manifest His presence that she 
will be avenged of her detractors. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

God gives Life to the Soul abandoned to 
Him by Means which apparently lead only 
to Death. 

There is a time when God wills to be 
the life of the soul and work out her per- 
fection Himself in a hidden and secret 
manner: then all her own ideas, lights, 
efforts, researches, reasonings, become 
a source of illusion. And when the 
soul, after many sad experiences, is fi- 
nally taught the uselessness of her self- 



God gives the Soul Life through Death, 145 

activity, she finds that God has hidden 
and obstructed all other channels of 
life that she may live in Him alone. 
Then, convinced of her nothingness, and 
that her self-activity is prejudicial to her, 
she abandons herself completely to 
God and relies only upon Him. God 
then becomes a source of life to the 
soul, not by means of thoughts, reve- 
lations, reflections (these are now be- 
come a source of illusion), but effec- 
tively by the reality of His grace hidden 
under the strangest appearances. The 
divine operation being invisible to the 
soul, she receives its virtue, its sub- 
stance, under circumstances which she 
feels will prove her ruin. There is no 
remedy for this obscurity; we must re- 
main buried therein; for here, in this 
night of faith, God gives Himself to 
us, and with Himself all things. Hence- 
forth the soul is but a blind subject; or 
rather she may be likened to a sick man 
who, ignorant of the virtue of his reme- 
dies, and feeling only their bitterness, 
frequently imagines they must lead to 
death; the exhaustion and crisis which 
follow them seem to justify his fears: 
nevertheless, under this semblance of 



146 Holy Abandonment. 

death he receives health, and he con- 
tinues to accept the remedies at the 
word of the physician. 

Thus souls abandoned to God's will 
take no heed of their infirmities, ex- 
cept those of a nature sufficiently evi- 
dent and grave to require care and 
treatment. The languor and impo- 
tence of faithful souls are but illusions 
and semblances which they must cour- 
ageously face. God sends and permits 
them to exercise their faith and self- 
abandonment, and in these virtues lies 
the soul's true remedy. She must go 
on generously, utterly ignoring her in- 
firmities, accepting all that comes to 
her to do or suffer in the order of God, 
never hesitating to treat her- body as 
w T e do those beasts of burden only 
destined to spend their lives going 
hither and thither at our will. This 
treatment is more efficacious than all 
that delicate care which only weakens 
the vigor of the mind. This strength 
of purpose has an indescribable virtue 
and power to sustain a feeble body; and 
a year of this noble and generous life is 
worth a century of selfish fears and 
care. 



God gives the Soul Life through Death. 147 

We must endeavor to habitually 
maintain an air of childlike gentleness 
and good-will. Ah ! what can we fear 
from this divine fortune ? Guided, sus- 
tained, and protected by the Providence 
of God, the whole exterior conduct of 
His children should be nothing less 
than heroic. The alarming objects 
which oppose their progress are naught 
in themselves: they are only sent to em- 
bellish their lives by still more glorious 
actions. They entangle them in em- 
barrassments of every kind, whence 
human prudence can see no issue, and, 
feeling its weakness, stops short, con- 
founded. Then does the divine for- 
tune gloriously manifest what it is for 
souls who wholly trust therein. It ex- 
tricates them more marvellously than 
the writers of fiction with unrestrained 
imagination in the leisure and privacy of 
their study unraveled the intrigues and 
perils of their imaginary heroes, bring- 
ing them invariably to a happy end. 
More admirably still does it guide them 
safely through the perils of death, the 
snares of demons, the terrors of temp- 
tation, the fears of hell. It elevates these 
souls to heaven, and they are all the real 



148 Holy Abandonment. 

subject of those mystic histories more 
beautiful and curious than any ever in- 
vented by the crude imagination of man. 

Then onward, my soul, through per- 
ils and fears, guided, directed, and sus- 1 
tained by the invisible, all-powerful, 
unerring Hand of divine Providence. 
Let us go on fearlessly in joy and peace 
to the end, turning obstacles into vic- 
tories, remembering that it was to 
struggle and conquer that we enrolled 
ourselves under His banner. Exivit 
vincens ut vinceret, and every step under 
His guidance is a victory. The book 
of souls lies open before the Holy Spirit, 
and their history is still written, for 
holy souls will furnish material for its 
pages to the end of the world. This 
history is but the relation of God's op- 
erations and designs upon man, and it 
depends upon ourselves whether we 
shall appear in its pages and continue 
its narration by uniting our sufferings 
and actions to His divine will. 

No; let nothing we have to do or suf- 
fer alarm us : it can cause us no loss ; 
it is only sent us that we may furnish 
material for that holy history, which is 
increasing day by day. 



Love All-in-all to the Self -abandoned. 149 



CHAPTER IX. 

Love holds the Place of All Things to Souls 
who walk in the Way of Abandonment. 

God, while He despoils a soul who 
wholly abandons herself to Him, gives 
her something which takes the place of 
all things — of light, of strength, of life, 
of wisdom. This gift is His love. Di- 
vine love is like a supernatural instinct 
in these souls. 

Everything in nature has that which 
is suited to its kind ; each flower has 
its peculiar charm, each animal its in- 
stinct, and each creature its perfection. 
And so it is in the different states of 
grace; each has its special grace, and 
this is a recompense to every one 
whose good will brings him in harmony 
with the state in which Providence has 
placed him. 

A soul becomes subject to the divine 
action the moment a good will is formed 
in her heart; and this action influences 
her according to the degree of her self- 
abandonment. The art of self-aban- 
donment is simply the art of loving, 
divine love grants all things to the 



150 Holy Abandofiment. 

soul who refuses Him nothing. And 
as God's love inspires the desires of a 
soul who lives for him, He can never 
refuse them; therefore, cannot love de- 
sire what it pleases ? 

The divine action only considers the 
good will of a soul; the capacity or in- 
capacity of the other faculties neither 
attract nor repel it. If it find a soul 
good, pure, upright, simple, submis- 
sive, it is all it requires; it takes posses- 
sion of this soul and of all her faculties, 
and so disposes all things for her good 
that she finds means of sanctification 
in everything. That which would give 
death to others, should it enter this 
soul will be harmless, for the antidote 
of her good will will arrest the effect of 
the poison. If she stray to the brink of 
the abyss, the divine action will with- 
hold her from its depths, or if she fall 
it will rescue her. And indeed the 
faults of these souls are but faults of 
frailty and little perceptible ; God's 
love knows how to turn them to her 
advantage, and by secret and ineffable 
ways teaches her what she should say 
and do according to the circumstances 
in which she is placed. 



Love All-in-all to the Self -abandoned. 151 

Such souls receive as it were rays of di- 
vine intelligence: Intellectus bonus omni- 
bus facientibus eum. For this divine in- 
telligence accompanies them in all their 
wanderings, and rescues them from the 
snares into which their simplicity leads 
them. Have they committed them- 
selves by some mistaken measure ? 
Providence disposes a happy event 
which releases them. Vainly are in- 
trigues multiplied against them; Provi- 
dence overcomes all the efforts of their 
enemies, and so confounds and be- 
wilders them that they fall into their 
own snares. Do they seek to surprise 
the soul ? Providence, by means of 
some apparently unimportant action 
which she unconsciously performs, res- 
cues her from the embarrassments into 
which she has been led by her own up- 
rightness and the malice of her ene- 
mies. 

Oh, the exquisite wisdom of this 
good will ! What prudence in its sim- 
plicity, what ingenuity in its innocence, 
what frankness in its mysteries, what 
mystery in its candor ! 

Behold the young Tobias: he is a 
mere youth; but Raphael walks at his 



152 Holy Abandorunent. 

side, and with such a guide he walks in 
safety, he feels no want, nothing af- 
frights him. Even the monsters he 
encounters furnish him food and heal- 
ing; the very creature which springs to 
devour him becomes his nourishment. 
He is only occupied with nuptials and 
festivities, for such is his present duty 
in the order of Providence; not that he 
is without other cares, but they are 
abandoned to that divine intelligence 
charged to assist him in all things ; and 
the result of his affairs is better than 
he could have made it, for everything 
succeeds and is crowned with pros- 
perity. Yet the mother bitterly grieves, 
while the father is full of faith ; but 
the child so sorely lamented joyfully ' 
returns to become the happiness of his 
family. 

Then for those souls who wholly 
abandon themselves to it, divine love 
is the source of all good ; and an ear- 
nest desire is all that is necessary to 
obtain this inestimable blessing. 

Yes, dear souls, God asks but your 
heart ; if you seek you will find this 
treasure, this kingdom where God 
alone reigns. 



Love All-in-all to the Self-abandoned. 153 

If your heart be wholly devoted to 
God, within it you will find the treas- 
ure, the kingdom itself, which is the 
object of your desires. The moment 
we desire God and His will, that mo- 
ment we enjoy them, and our enjoy- 
ment corresponds to the ardor of our 
desires. The earnest desire to love 
God is loving Him. Because we love 
Him we desire to be the instruments of 
His action, that His love may freely 
operate in us and through us. 

The work of the divine action is not 
in proportion to the capacity of a simple 
holy soul, but to her purity of intention; 
nor does it correspond to the means 
she adopts, the projects she forms, the 
counsel she follows. The soul may err 
in all these, and this not rarely hap- 
pens; but with a good will and pure 
intention she can never be misled. When 
God sees this good disposition He 
overlooks all the rest, and accepts as 
done what the soul would assuredly do 
if circumstances seconded her good 
will. 

Therefore a good will has nothing to 
fear ; if it falter, it can but fall under 
that all-powerful Hand which guides 



154 Holy Abandonment. 

and sustains it in all its wanderings. 
It is this divine Hand which draws it 
towards the goal when it has wandered 
therefrom, which restores it to the path 
whence its feet have strayed ; it is the 
soul's refuge in the difficulties into 
which the efforts of her blind faculties 
lead her ; and the soul learns to despise 
these, efforts to wholly abandon herself 
to the infallible guidance of this divine 
Hand. Even the errors of these good 
souls lead them to self-abandonment; 
and never will a good will find itself 
unaided, for it is a dogma of faith that 
all things work the good of such souls. 



CHAPTER X. 

The Faithful Soul finds in Submission to 
the Will of God more Force and Strength 
than the Proudest of those who resist 
Him. 

What avail the most sublime intelli- 
gence and divine revelations if we love 
not the will of God ? It was through 
these that Lucifer perished. The work 
of the divine action which God revealed 
to him in the mystery of the Incarna- 
tion excited only his envy. A simple 



What Souls gain by Submissio?i to God, 155 

soul, on the contrary, enlightened by 
faith alone, never wearies admiring, 
praising, and loving the order of God, 
recognizing it not only in holy things, 
but even amid the greatest confusion 
and disorder of events. A simple soul 
is more enlightened with a ray of pure 
faith than was Lucifer by His sublime 
revelations. 

The science of a soul faithful to her 
obligations, peacefully submissive to 
the secret inspirations of grace, humble 
and gentle with all, is worth more than 
the profound wisdom which penetrates 
mysteries. 

If we would learn to see but the will 
of God in the pride and cruelty of 
creatures, we would always meet them 
with gentleness and respect. What- 
ever the consequences of their dis- 
orders, they can never mar the divine 
order. We must only see in creatures 
the will of God, whose instruments 
they are, and whose grace they com- 
municate to us when we receive them 
with meekness and humility. We have 
not to concern ourselves for their 
course, but keep steadily on in our 
own; and thus, with gentle firmness, we 



156 Holy Abandonment. 

will triumph over all obstacles, were 
they firmly rooted as cedars and irre- 
sistible as rocks. 

What can resist the force of a meek, 
humble, faithful soul?. If we would 
vanquish all our adversaries, we have 
but to use the weapons God has placed 
in our hands. He has given them for 
our defence, and there is nothing to be 
feared in using them. We must not be 
cowardly but generous, as becomes 
souls chosen to do God's work. God's 
workings are sublime and marvellous; 
and never can human action, warring 
upon God, resist one who is united to 
the divine will by the practice of meek- 
ness and humility. 

What was Lucifer? A beautiful 
spirit, more enlightened than all the 
others; but a beautiful spirit rebellious 
against God and His will. 

The mystery of evil is but the con- 
tinuation of this rebellion in every 
variety of form. Lucifer, as far as lies 
in his power, would subvert all that 
God has done and ordained. Wher- 
ever he penetrates, God's work is 
marred. The greater one's learning, 
science, understanding, the greater his 



What Sotds gain by Submission to God. 157 

danger if he possess not that founda- 
tion of piety which consists in sub- 
mission to the will of God. It is a 
disciplined, submissive heart which 
unites us to the divine action; without 
it all our goodness is but natural virtue, 
and ordinarily in opposition to the 
order of God. This all-powerful 
Workman only recognizes the humble 
as His instruments, and condemns the 
rebellious proud to serve in spite of 
themselves as the slaves of divine 
justice. 

When I see a soul whose first object 
is God and submission to His will, 
however much she may be lacking in 
other things, I say, Here is a soul with 
great talents for serving God. The 
Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph appear 
to have been after this model. Other 
gifts without this alarm me ; I fear to 
see the action of Lucifer repeated. I 
am on my guard, and intrench myself 
in my simplicity to resist the dazzling 
splendor of those gifts, of themselves 
so perishable and fragile. 



158 Holy Abandonment. 



CHAPTER XI. 

The Soul abandoned to God learns to rec- 
ognize His Will even in the Proud who 
resist Him. All Creatures, whether Good 
or Evil, reveal Him to her. 

The will of God is the whole life of • 
the simple soul. She respects this will 
even in the evil actions by which the 
proud seek to abase her. The proud 
despise 'a soul in whose eyes they are 
nothing; for she sees only God in them 
and all their actions. Frequently they 
mistake her humble demeanor for awe 
of themselves, when it is only a mark 
of her loving fear of God and His will 
which is present to her in the proud. 

No, poor foolish creatures, the simple 
soul fears ye not. Rather, she com- 
passionates you. It is to God she speaks 
when she seems to address you; it is 
with Him she treats; she regards you 
only as His slaves, or rather as shadows 
which veil Him. Therefore, the more 
overbearing you are, the more humble 
she becomes; and when you think to 
entrap her you find youselves the 
dupes. Your diplomacy, your violence, 



Recognition of the Divine Will. 159 

are to her, but favors of Providence, 
Yes, the proud are still an enigma 
which the simple soul enlightened by 
faith clearly reads. 

This recognition of the divine will in 
all that transpires each moment within 
us and about us is the true science of 
the spiritual life; it is a continual 
revelation of truth; it is a communica- 
tion with God incessantly renewed; it 
is the enjoyment of the Bridegroom, 
not covertly, secretly, in the " clefts of 
the rock," in the "vineyard," but 
openly, publicly, without fear of creat- 
ures. It is a depth of peace, joy, love, 
and contentment with God, whom we 
see, or rather behold, through -faith, 
living and working the perfection of 
each event. It is the eternal paradise, 
now tasted, it is true, only in things in- 
complete and veiled in obscurity; but 
the Spirit of God disposes all the 
events of this life by the fruitful omni- 
presence of His action, and on the last 
day He will say, Let there be light (Fiat 
lux) ; and then shall be revealed the 
treasures of that abyss of peace and 
contentment with God which each ac- 
tion, each cross, conceals. 



160 Holy Abandonment. 

When God thus gives Himself to a 
soul, all that is ordinary becomes extra- 
ordinary; therefore it is that nothing 
appears of the great work which is 
going on in the soul; the way itself is so 
marvellous that it needs not the embel- 
lishment of marvels which belong not 
to it. It is a miracle, a revelation, a 
continuous enjoyment of God, inter- 
rupted only by little faults; but in itself 
it is characterized by the absence of 
anything sensible or marvellous, while 
it renders marvellous all ordinary and 
sensible things. 



CHAPTER XII. 

God assures to Faithful Souls a Glorious 
Victory over the Powers of Earth and 
Hell. 

If the divine action is veiled here be- 
low by an exterior of weakness, it is 
that the merit of faithful souls may be 
increased; but its triumph is no less 
sure. The history of the world is sim- 
ply the history of the struggle main- 
tained from the beginning by the pow- 
ers of the world and hell with souls 



The Victory assured to Faithful Souls. 161 

humbly submissive to the divine action. 
In the conflict all the advantage seems 
to be on the side of the proud; yet hu- 
mility is always victorious. 

This world is represented to us under 
the form of a statue of gold, brass, iron, 
and clay. This mystery of iniquity 
which was shown in a dream to Nebu- 
chadnezzar is but the confused assem- 
blage of all the acts, interior and exte- 
rior, of the children of darkness. These 
are again represented by the beast com- 
ing up out of the abyss from the begin- 
ning of all ages, to make war upon the 
interior and spiritual man; and this war 
still continues. The monsters succeed 
one another ; the abyss swallows them 
and vomits them forth again, while un- 
ceasingly emitting new and strange 
vapors. The combat begun in heaven 
between Lucifer and St. Michael still 
wages. The heart of that proud and 
envious spirit has become an inexhaust- 
ible abyss of every kind of evil; and his 
only aim since the creation of the world 
has been to ever raise up among men 
new workers of iniquity to replace those 
swallowed up in the abyss. Lucifer is 
the chieftain of those who refuse obedi- 



162 Holy Aba?idonment. 

ence to the Almighty ; this mystery of 
iniquity is but the inversion of the or- 
der of God. It is the order, or rather 
the disorder, of Satan. This disorder is 
a mystery, for beneath a fair exterior it 
hides irremediable infinite evils. All the 
wicked who have declared war against 
God, from Cain to those who now lay 
waste the earth, have been seemingly 
great and powerful princes, famous in 
the world and worshipped of men. But 
their apparent splendor is a portion of 
the mystery; they are but the beasts 
which, one after another, rise from the 
abyss to subvert the order of God. But 
this order, which is another mystery, 
resists them with men truly powerful 
and great, who give the death-blow to 
these monsters ; and even as hell vom- 
its forth new monsters, heaven raises 
up new heroes to battle with them. An- 
cient history, sacred and profane, is but 
the record of this war. The will of God 
always triumphs. His followers share 
His victories and reap a happy eternity. 
But iniquity can never protect its fol- 
lowers, and the deserters from God's 
cause reap death, eternal death. 

The wicked ever believe themselves 



The Victory assured to Faithful Souls. 163 

invincible; but oh, my God, who shall 
resist Thee ! Were the powers of earth 
and hell ranged against one single soul, 
she would have naught to fear in aban- 
doning herself to the will of God. That 
apparent might and irresistible power 
of iniquity, that head of gold, that body 
of silver, brass, and iron, is but a phan- 
tom of glittering dust. A pebble over- 
throws it and makes it the sport of the 
winds. 

How admirable is the work of the 
Holy Spirit throughout all ages ! The 
revolutions which irresistibly carry men 
along with them, the brilliant heroes 
heralded with so much pomp, who shine 
like stars above the rest of mankind, 
the marvels of the age, are all but as 
the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, which 
at his awakening fled with all its ter- 
rors. 

All these things are only sent to ex- 
ercise the courage of the children of 
God; and when their virtue is proved 
and confirmed, He permits them to 
overcome these monsters, and contin- 
ues to send new warriors into the field. 
So that this life is a continual war- 
fare which exercises the courage of the 



164 Holy Abandonment, 

saints on earth, and causes joy in heaven 
and confusion in hell. 

Thus all opposition to the will, the 
order of God, serves but to render it 
more adorable. The servers of ini- 
quity are the slaves of justice, and from 
the ruins of Babylon the divine action 
builds the heavenly Jerusalem. 



APPENDIX. 



Our readers will be grateful to us for 
adding to Father Caussade's treatise a 
few methods which facilitate the prac- 
tice of abandonment. To recommend 
these methods it suffices to say that their 
authors are St. Francis de Sales, Saint 
Jane Frances de Chantal, Bossuet, and 
Father Surin. 



A very easy Means of acquiring Peace of 
Heart. 
By Father Surin, S. J. 
It seems to me that the multiplicity 
of methods we employ to acquire and 
practise virtue is one of the obstacles 
to our being solidly established therein. 
Not that I counsel being so irrevocably 
bound to one method that we are not 
ready to change when God's attraction 
changes. But, after all, this attraction 
at bottom never changes, and only pre- 
sents itself under a more spiritual form. 
Thev who will be faithful to the follow- 



1 66 Appendix. 

ing rules will have no difficulty in prac- 
tising the virtues appropriate to the cir- 
cumstances, the time, and the place in 
which they find themselves, and in rel- 
ishing in the exercise of these virtues 
the peace and holy liberty of the chil- 
dren of God. 

ist. Let us be fully convinced that 
we have but one thing to do: to possess 
each moment the fulness of our mind, 
without permitting the reasonable will 
to uselessly recall the past or excite 
vain anxieties concerning the future. 

True abandonment, which makes God 
look upon us with love, consists in leav- 
ing the past to His ever merciful justice, 
and in confiding the future to His fath- 
erly Providence. The remembrance of 
our past infidelities should humble but 
not trouble us, though we were con- 
vinced that they are much more serious 
than they appear. 

In regard to the future, let us place 
no trust whatever in our strength and 
the sentiments of devotion we may ex- 
perience; let us place all our trust in 
Jesus alone, however contrary sensible 
impressions may be. Relying on this 
foundation, it is no presumption to feel 



Easy Way to acquire Peace of Heart. 167 

ourselves stronger than earth and hell ; 
and the greater this confidence, the more 
it honors Jesus Christ, and the more 
it disposes His goodness to succor us 
in all our needs. 

2d. We shall sanctify the present mo- 
ment by renewing as frequently as we 
shall feel it needful the act of recollec- 
tion which we must have made the first 
time with all the fervor of which we 
are capable; but this recollection should 
be very peaceful and dwell in the depths 
of the soul more than in the sensible 
part. 

3d. We can remain faithful to this 
recollection only on condition that we 
frequently examine the interior and ex- 
terior condition of our soul. As soon 
as we discover in her any irregu- 
larity, however small, or in any degree 
displeasing to God, we should proceed 
to restore order with a heart as tran- 
quil as if we had never failed, without 
disquieting ourselves with reflections 
springing from self-love, vexation at 
the fault committed, or from a pretext 
of livelier contrition. 4These sentiments 
can only retard our progress in virtue; 
for, while the soul amuses itself caress- 



1 68 Appendix. 

ing its chagrin and probing its past 
faults, this useless introspection para- 
lyzes its action and disposes it to new 
falls. A peaceful regret for time ill 
employed, united with an earnest en- 
deavor to make better use of the present 
moment, is the true character of love of 
God. 

4th. The quickest means of attaining 
peace of heart is love of our own ab- 
jection and miseries, voluntary offence 
against God, however, excepted. This 
love of one's personal abjection derives 
profit from everything, even from falls, 
which should never discourage us. 

A soul that loves her own abjection 
laughs at discouragement and combats 
it with all her strength. Content to be 
of herself but impotence and misery, 
she rejoices that Jesus Christ possesses 
the fulness of all perfection, and that 
she cannot do without Him an instant. 
She would not, were it in her power, 
will to have any strength of herself, for 
her radical impotence for all good and 
her unceasing need of Jesus Christ set 
forth His divine attributes to greater 
advantage. This is the sole contentment 
of a soul that seeks only the glory of 
God. 



Easy Way to acquire Peace of Heart. 169 

In this peaceful, humble way we 
advance in purity of divine love, and in 
the extermination of our bad habits 
more rapidly in a week than we would 
in a year of unquiet vigilance. Very 
little experience of God's way will con- 
vince us of this. For self-love is the 
motive and end of those who yield 
to disquiet, while those who pro- 
ceed with the calmness of which we 
have spoken rely on Jesus Christ. Now, 
it is most evident that seeking only 
God's interest always gives strength, 
and that egotism, even spiritual ego- 
tism, being a disorder, is weakening. 

5th. The perfection of order is to be 
found in the complete fusion of our in- 
terests with those of God. Therefore 
he who remains faithful to this sweet 
habit is not astonished to see himself 
assailed by every form of temptation; 
he bears the weary burden of them as 
the natural fruit of his misery, main- 
tains in the depth of his heart a re- 
signed acquiescence, and courageously 
drags this weary chain of his past 
without permitting himself to be trou- 
bled or cast down by the memory of 
his iniquities. When this thought as- 



170 Appendix. 

sails him, he loses no time examining 
whence it came, nor how long it has 
lasted, for such an examination would 
be in itself a new distraction, more 
voluntary and injurious than the first; 
he is satisfied with humbling himself 
at sight of this infidelity, which, wholly 
involuntary as it is, proves, neverthe- 
less, that his heart is not wholly fixed 
upon God. Disquietude in this case 
being a mark of self-love, we must re- 
turn to God and seek peace in love of 
our own abjection. 

6th. We must follow the same rule 
in our relations with our neighbor, and: 
cause him to feel the truth of these 
words of our Saviour: " My yoke is 
sweet, and My burden light." No one 
who takes this yoke upon himself can 
fail to realize these words, for they are 
the utterance of eternal Truth. The 
practice of which we have just spoken 
will inevitably cause us to taste its 
sweetness. 

7th. When this feeling of disquiet has 
passed, and peace of mind is restored, 
it is well then to recall our past faults 
in order to humble and reprove our- 
selves. There is no one who should 



Easy Way to acquire Peace of Heart. 171 

not feel the need of doing this, so great 
is the depth of our pride and self-love 
which never die, and never cease alas ! 
to produce new fruits. If we neglect 
this very important point, the founda- 
tion of our virtues will inevitably lose 
its solidity. When, on the contrary, we 
persevere in this habit, we always con- 
ceive a greater esteem for our neighbor; 
unfavorable appearances no longer lead 
us to judge rashly, and we only con- 
demn ourselves, for, recognizing our 
nothingness and sinfulness, we place 
ourselves under the feet of all. 

8th. In considering our past faults, 
we must first see how we could have 
avoided falling ; then with a tranquil 
heart lay before Jesus our misery and 
the will to be faithful to Him which He 
gives us; finally, we must not vainly 
amuse ourselves with estimating the 
difficulty or the facility we experience 
in doing good. We must not go to 
God circuitously, but unceasingly rouse 
ourselves to that pure and generous 
disinterestedness which will lead us 
directly to His most lovingand adorable 
Majesty. 



172 Appendix. 

II. 

On Perfect Abandonment. 

By Bossuet. 

When we are truly abandoned to 
God's will, we are ready for all that 
may come to us: we suppose the worst 
that can be supposed, and we cast our- 
selves blindly on the bosom of God. 
We forget ourselves, we lose ourselves: 
and this entire forgetfulness of self is 
the most perfect penance we can per- 
form; for all conversion consists only 
in truly renouncing and forgetting our- 
selves, to be occupied with God and 
filled with Him. This forgetfulness of 
self is the martyrdom of self-love; it is 
its death, and an annihilation which 
leaves it without resources: then the 
heart dilates and is enlarged. We are 
relieved by casting from us the danger- 
ous weight of self which formerly over- 
whelmed us. We look upon God as a 
good Father who leads us, as it were, 
by the hand in the present moment: 
and all our rest is in humble and firm 
confidence in His fatherly goodness. 

If anything is capable of making a 
heart free and unrestrained, it is per- 



Prayer of Faith, 173 

feet abandonment to God and His holy 
will: this abandonment fills the heart 
with a divine peace more abundant 
than the fullest and vastest floods. If 
anything can render a mind serene, 
dissipate the keenest anxieties, soften 
the bitterest pains, it is assuredly this 
perfect simplicity and liberty of a 
heart wholly abandoned to the hands 
of God. The unction of abandonment 
gives a certain vigor to all the actions, 
and spreads the joy of the Holy Spirit 
even over the countenance and words. 
I will place all my strength, therefore, 
in this perfect abandonment to God's 
hands, through Jesus Christ, and He 
will be my conclusion in all things in 
virtue of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

III. 

A Short and Easy Method of making the 
Prayer of Faith, and of the Simple Pres- 
ence of God. 

By Bossuet. 

1st. We must accustom ourselves to 
nourish our soul with a simple and 
loving thought of God, and of Jesus 
Christ, our Lord; and to this end we 
must gently separate her from all dis- 



174 Appendix. 

course, reasoning, and a multitude of y 
affections, to keep her in simplicity, re- 
spect, and attention, and thus bring her 
nearer and nearer to God, her sole and 
sovereign good, her first principle, and 
her last end. 

2d. The perfection of this life con- 
sists in union with our Sovereign Good; 
and the greater the simplicity, the more 
perfect the union. It is for this reason 
that those who would be perfect are 
interiorly solicited by grace to become 
simple, that they may finally be capa- 
ble of enjoying the one thing necessary — 
that is, eternal unity. Then let us fre- 
quently say, in the depth of our hearts: 
O unum necessarium^ unum volo, unum 
qncero, unum ?fiihi est necessarium, Deus 
mens et omnia. (Oh, one thing necessary! 
Thee alone do I wish, do I seek, do I 
desire! Thou art all that I need, O my 
God and my all!) 

3d. Meditation is very good in its 
time, and very useful at the beginning 
•of the spiritual life; but we must not 
stop at it, as the soul by her fidelity to 
mortification, and recollection, usually 
receives a purer and more intimate 
form of prayer which may be called 



Prayer of Faith. 175 

the prayer of " simplicity." It consists 
in a simple and loving attention, or 
contemplation of some divine object, 
either of God in Himself or some of 
His perfections, or of Jesus Christ or 
some of His mysteries, or some other 
of the Christian truths. Then the soul, 
abandoning all reasoning, falls into a 
sweet contemplation which keeps her 
tranquil, attentive, and susceptible of 
the operations and the divine impres- 
sions which the Holy Spirit communi- 
cates to her: she does little,and receives 
much; her labor is sweet, and yet most 
fruitful; and as she approaches nearer to 
the source of all light, all grace, all 
virtue, she also receives more. 

4th. The practice of this prayer 
should begin at our awakening by an 
act of faith in the presence of God, 
who is everywhere, and in Jesus Christ, 
whose eyes never leave us though we 
were buried in the centre of the earth. 
This act is made sensibly, in the usual 
manner; for example, by saying in- 
teriorly, "I believe that my God is 
present;" or by a simple thought of 
faith in God present with us, which is 
a purer and more spiritual act. 



176 Appendix. 

5th. Then we must not endeavor to 
multiply, or produce several other acts 
or various dispositions, but remain sim- 
ply attentive to this presence of God, 
exposed to this divine radiance, thus 
continuing this devout attention or 
exposition as long as God gives us the 
grace of it, without being eager to 
make other acts than those with which 
we are inspired, since this prayer is a 
prayer with God alone, and a union 
which eminently contains all the other 
special dispositions; and which disposes 
the soul to passiveness; that is to say, 
God becomes sole master of her interior, 
and there effects more special work. 
The less the creature labors in this 
state, the more powerfully God acts in 
her; and since the operation of God is 
a repose, the soul, in this prayer, be- 
comes in a manner like Him, and re- 
ceives, also, marvellous effects; and as 1 
the rays of the sun cause the plants to 
grow and blossom and bear fruit, so 
the attentive soul, exposed in tran- 
quillity to the rays of the divine Sun of 
justice, more effectually imbibes the 
divine influences which enrich her with 
all virtues. 



Prayer of Faith. 177 

6th. The continuation of this atten- 
tion in faith will serve her as thanks- 
giving for all the graces received during 
the night, and throughout her life, as 
an offering of herself and all her ac- 
tions, as a direction of her intention, 
etc. 

7th. The soul may fear to lose much 
by the omission of other acts, but ex- 
perience will teach her, on the contrary, 
that she gains a great deal; for the 
greater her knowledge of God, the 
greater also will be the purity of her 
love, of her intentions, the greater will 
be her detestation of sin, and the 
greater and more continual her re- 
collection, mortification, and humility. 

8th. This will not prevent her from 
making other interior or .exterior acts 
of virtue when she feels herself impelled 
thereto by grace; but the fundamental 
and usual state of her interior should - 
be that union with God which will keep 
her abandoned to His hands and deliv- 
ered up to His love, to quietly accom- 
plish all His will. 

9th. The time of meditation being 
come, we must begin it with great re- 
spect by a simple recollection of God, 



178 Appendix. 

invoking His Spirit, and uniting our- 
selves intimately with Jesus Christ; 
then continue it in this same way. It 
will be the same with vocal prayers, 
office, and the Holy Sacrifice, whether we 
celebrate it or assist at it. Even the 
examination of conscience should be 
made after no other method: this same 
light which keeps our attention upon 
God will cause us to discover our 
slightest imperfections, and deeply de- 
plore and regret them. We should go 
to table with the same spirit of simpli- 
city which will keep us more occupied 
with God than with the repast, and 
leave us free to give better attention to 
what is being read. This practice binds 
us to nothing but to keep our soul de- 
tached from all imperfection, and at- 
tached only to God and intimately 
united with Him, in which consists all 
our welfare. 

10th. We should take our recreation 
in the same disposition, to give the 
body and mind relaxation without per- 
mittingourselves the dissipation of curi- 
ous news, immoderate laughter, nor any 
indiscreet word, etc.; always keeping 
ourselves pure and free interiorly with- 



Praye?- of Faith. 179 

out disturbing others, frequently unit- 
ing ourselves to God by a simple and 
loving thought of Him; remembering 
that we are in His presence,and that He 
does not wish us to be separated at any 
moment from Him and His holy will. 
The most ordinary rule of this state of 
simplicity and the sovereign disposition 
of the soul is to do the will of God in 
all things. Regarding all as coming 
from God and going from all to God, 
is what sustains and fortifies the soul in 
all its occupations and in all that 
comes to it, and maintains us in the 
possession of simplicity. Then let us 
always follow the will of God, after the 
example of Jesus Christ, and united to 
Him as our Head. This is an excellent 
means of making progress in this man- 
ner of prayer, in order to attain through 
it to the most solid virtue and the most 
perfect sanctity. 

nth. We should console ourselves in 
the same manner, and preserve this sim- 
ple and intimate union with God in all 
our actions — in the parlor, in the cell, at 
table, at recreation. Let us add, that 
in all our intercourse we should en- 
deavor to edify our neighbor, by taking 



180 Appendix. 

advantage of every occasion to lead 
one another to piety, the love of God, 
the practice of good works, in order that 
we may diffuse the good odor of Jesus 
Christ. If any ?nan speak, says St. Peter, 
let him speak as the words of God, and 
as if God Himself spoke through him. 
To do this, it suffices to follow the in- 
spiration of the Holy Spirit: He will 
inspire you as to that which is simply 
and unaffectedly suitable at all times. 

Finally, we will finish the day by ani- 
mating with the sentiment of this holy 
presence our examen, evening prayer, 
and preparations for rest; and we will 
go to sleep with this loving attention, 
interspersing our rest, when we awake 
during the night, with a few fervent 
words, full of unction, like so many 
transports, or cries of the heart to God. 
As for example: My God, be all things 
to me ! I desire only Thee for time and 
eternity; Lord, who is like unto Thee? 
My Lord and my God; my God, and 
nothing more! 

1 2th. It must be remarked that this 
true simplicity makes us live in a state 
of continual death to self and of perfect 
detachment, by causing us to go with 



Prayer of Faith. 1 8 1 

the utmost directness to God without 
stopping at any creature. But this grace 
of simplicity is not obtained by specu- 
lation, but by great purity of heart, and 
true mortification and contempt of self. 
He who avoids suffering, humiliations, 
and refuses to die to self, will never have 
any part in it. This is why there are 
so few who advance herein; for few in- 
deed are willing to leave themselves, 
and they endure in consequence im- 
mense losses, and deprive themselves of 
incomprehensible blessings. O happy 
souls who spare nothing to belong 
wholly to God! Happy religious who 
faithfully follow all the observances of 
their institute! Through this fidelity 
they die continually to self, to their 
own judgment, to their own will, to 
their inclinations and natural repug- 
nances, and are thus admirably though 
unconsciously disposed for this excel- 
lent method of prayer. There is noth- 
ing more hidden than the life of a relig- 
ious who follows in all things the obser- 
vances and ordinary exercises of his or 
her community, giving no exterior man- 
ifestation of anything extraordinary: it 
is a life which is a complete and con- 



iSz Appendix. 

tinual death; through it the kingdom of 
God is established in us, and all other 
things are liberally given us. 

13th. We should not neglect the read- 
ing of spiritual books; but we should 
read with simplicity, and in a spirit of 
prayer, and not through curious re- 
search. We read in a spirit of prayer 
when we permit the lights and senti- 
ments revealed to us through the read- 
ing to be imprinted on our souls, and 
when this impression is made by the 
presence of God rather than by our in- 
dustry. 

14th. We must be armed, moreover, 
with two or three maxims: first, that 
a devout person without prayer is a 
body without a soul; second, that there 
can be no true and solid prayer with- 
out mortification, without recollection, 
without humility; third, that we need 
perseverance, never to be disheartened 
by the difficulties to be encountered in 
this exercise. 

15th. It must be borne in mind that 
one of the greatest secrets of the 
spiritual life is that the Holy Spirit 
guides us therein, not only by lights, 
sweetness, consolations, and attrac- 



Prayer of Faith. 183 

tions, but also by obscurities, darkness, 
insensibility, contradictions, anguish, 
revolts of the passions, and inclina- 
tions. I say, moreover, that this cruci- 
fied way is necessary; that it is good; 
that it is the surest, and that it leads us 
much more rapidly to perfection. An 
enlightened soul dearly appreciates the 
guidance of God, which permits her to 
be tried by creatures and overwhelmed 
with temptations and neglect; and she 
fully understands that these things are 
favors rather than misfortunes, prefer- 
ring to die on the cross on Calvary than 
live in sweetness on Thabor. Experi- 
ence will teach her in time the truth of 
these beautiful words: Et nox illuminatio 
mea in deliciis meis ; et mea nox obscurum 
non habetj sed omnia in luce dares cunt.'" 
The soul, after her purification in the 
Purgatory of suffering through which 
she must necessarily pass, will enjoy 
light, rest, and joy through intimate 
union with God, who will make this 
world, exile as it is, a paradise for her. 
The best prayer is that in which we 

" And night shall be my light in my pleasures, 
and my night knoweth no darkness, but all things 
shine in light. 



1S4 Appendix. 

most freely abandon ourselves to the 
sentiments and dispositions which God 
gives the soul, and in which we study 
with most simplicity, humility, and 
fidelity to conform ourselves to His 
will and to the example of Jesus Christ. 
Great God, who by a series of mar- 
vellous and special circumstances didst 
provide from all eternity for the com- 
position of this little work, permit not 
that certain minds, some of which are 
to be found among scholars and others 
among spiritual persons, ever be ac- 
cused before Thy dread tribunal of 
having contributed in any way to close 
Thee the entrance to innumerable 
hearts, because Thou didst will to enter 
them in a manner the very simplicity 
of which shocked them, and by a way 
which, opened as it was by the saints 
since the first ages of the Church, was 
not yet, perhaps, sufficiently known to 
them: grant rather that all of us be- 
coming as little children, as our Lord 
commands, we may enter upon this 
way, in order to teach it more safely 
and efficaciously to others. Amen. 



Lovi?ig Union of our Will with God's. 185 

IV. 

Exercise of Loving Union of our Will with 
that of God. 

By St. Francis de Sales. 

1st Point. Kneeling in deepest hu- 
mility before the ineffable majesty of 
God, adore His sovereign goodness 
which from all eternity called you by 
your name, and resolved to save you, as 
He assures you in these words of the 
Prophet: "I have loved thee with an 
everlasting love; therefore have I drawn 
thee, taking pity on thee;" and destined 
for you, among other means, this pres- 
ent day, which you can employ in 
works of salvation and life. 

2d Point. With this thought so full 
of truth, unite* your will to that of your 
heavenly Father, so good and so mer- 
ciful, in the following or similar words, 
from the depth of your heart: O sweet 
will of God, be ever accomplished! O 
eternal designs of the divine will, I 
adore Thee; I consecrate and dedicate 
my will to Thee; to ever will what 
Thou hast willed from all eternity. 
May I accomplish to-day, and always, 
and in all things Thy divine will, O my 



1 86 Appendix, 

loving Creator! Yes, heavenly Father, 
according to Thy good pleasure from 
all eternity, and forever! Amen! O 
infinite Goodness, may it be as Thou 
hast willed! O eternal Will, live and 
reign in my will, now and forever! 

3d Point. Invoke again the divine 
assistance thus: O God, come to my 
aid; let Thy strengthening hand con- 
firm my poor, weak courage! Behold, 

my Saviour, this poor, miserable 
heart has conceived, through Thy good- 
ness, several holy affections; but alas! 
it is too weak and wretched to execute 
the good it desires. I beg the inter- 
cession of the Blessed Virgin, of my 
good angel, and of all the heavenly 
court. May their assistance be given 
me according to Thy good pleasure. 

4th Point. Make, then, in this way a 
strong and loving union of your will 
with that of God; and in the midst of 
the temporal and spiritual actions of 
the day frequently renew this union 
which you have established in the 
morning, by simply casting an interior 
glance upon the divine Goodness, say- 
ing by way of acquiescence: "Yes, Lord, 

1 wish it ; yes, my Father, yes; always 



Loving Union of our Will with God's. 187 

yes!" You can also, if you wish, make 
the sign of the cross, or kiss the cross 
of your rosary, your medal, or some 
pious picture; for all this will signify 
that you remit yourself to the Provi- 
dence of God, that you adore it, that 
you love it with all your heart, that 
you unite your will irrevocably to that 
supreme will. 

5th. But these whisperings of the 
heart, these interior words, should be 
uttered peacefully and firmly; they 
should be distilled, so to speak, softly 
and lovingly in the depths of the mind; 
and as we whisper in the ear of a friend 
a word which we desire should pene- 
trate his heart alone, thus these whis- 
perings will penetrate deeper and more 
efficaciously than these transports, 
these ejaculatory prayers, and these 
outbursts. Experience will prove this to 
you, provided you are humble and 
simple. 

May God and His holy Mother be 
praised ! 



1 88 Appendix. 

V. 

Act of Abandonment. 

By St. Jane Frances de Chantal. 

O sovereign goodness of the sover- 
eign Providence of my God! I abandon 
myself forever to Thy arms. Whether 
gentle or severe, lead me henceforth 
whither Thou wilt; I will not regard 
the way through which Thou wilt 
have me pass, but keep my eyes fixed 
upon Thee, my God, who guidest me. 
My soul finds no rest without the arms 
and the bosom of this heavenly Provi- 
dence, my true Mother, my strength 
and my rampart. Therefore I resolve 
with Thy divine assistance, O my Savi- 
our, to follow Thy desires and Thy or- 
dinances, without regarding or exam- 
ining why Thou dost this rather than 
that; but I will blindly follow Thee ac- 
cording to Thy divine will, without 
seeking my own inclinations. 

Hence I am determined to leave all 
to Thee, taking no part therein save by 
keeping myself in peace in Thy arms, 
desiring nothing except as Thou in- 
citest me to desire, to will, to wish. I 
offer Thee this desire, O my God, be- 



Act of Abandonment. 189 

seeching Thee to bless it; I undertake 
all it includes, relying on Thy goodness, 
liberality, and mercy, with entire con- 
fidence in Thee, distrust of myself, and 
knowledge of my infinite misery and 
infirmity. 

Another Act of Abandonment. 

By Bossuet. 

My God, who art goodness itself, I 
adore this infinite goodness; I unite 
myself to it, and I rely upon it, even more 
than upon its effects. I find no good 
in me, no good work done with the fidel- 
ity and perfection Thou desirest, nor 
anything which can make me pleasing 
to Thee; hence I place no trust in my- 
self or in my works, but in Thee alone, 
O infinite goodness, who in one mo- 
ment canst effect in me all that is need- 
ful to make me pleasing to Thee ! In 
this belief I live; and while I live, to 
my last sigh, I remit my heart, my body, 
my mind, my soul, and my will into 
Thy divine hands. 

O Jesus, only Son of the living God, 
who earnest into the world to redeem 
my sinful soul, I abandon it to Thee ! I 



190 Appendix. 

place Thy precious blood, Thy holy 
death and passion, and Thy adorable 
wounds, and particularly that of Thy 
Sacred Heart, between Thy divine jus- 
• tice and my sins; and thus I live in the 
faith and hope I have in Thee, O Son 
of God, who hast loved me and given 
Thyself for me. Amen. 

Another Act of Abandonment. 

By Venerable Father Pignatelii. 

O my God, I know not what must 
come to me to-day; but I am certain 
that nothing can happen me which 
Thou hast not foreseen, decreed, and 
ordained from all eternity: that is suffi- 
cient for me. I adore Thy impenetra- 
ble and eternal designs, to which I 
submit with all my heart; I desire, I 
accept them all, and I unite my sacri- 
fice to that of Jesus Christ, my divine 
Saviour; I ask in His name, and 
through His infinite merits, patience in 
my trials, and perfect and entire sub- 
mission to all that comes to me by Thy 
good pleasure. Amen. 



$n JStt xrt (SuttHit^nt^ h isir* 

By Rev. Claude De La Colombiere, S.J. 

My God, I believe so firmly that Thou watch- 
est over all who hope in Thee, and that we can 
want for nothing when we rely upon Thee in all 
things, that I am resolved for the future to have 
no anxieties, and to cast all my cares upon Thee. 
" In peace in the self -same I will sleep and I will 
rest ; for Thou, Lord, singularly hast settled me 
in hope." 

Men may deprive me of worldly goods and of 
honors; sickness may take from me my strength 
and the means of serving Thee; I may even lose 
Thy grace by sin: but my trust shall never leave 
me; I will preserve it to the last moment of my 
life, and the powers of hell shall seek in vain to 
wrest it from me. " In peace in the self -same I 
will sleep and I will rest." 

Let others seek happiness in their wealth, in 
their talents; let them trust to the purity of their 
lives, the severity of their mortifications, to the 
number of their good works, the fervor of their 
prayers; as for me, O my God, in my very con- 
fidence lies all my hope. "For Thou, Lord, 
singularly hast settled me in hope." This confi- 
dence can never be vain. "No one has hoped in 
the Lord and has been confounded." 

I am assured, therefore, of my eternal happi- 
ness, for I firmly hope for it, and all my hope is 
in Thee. "In Thee, Lord, have I hoped; let 
me never be confounded" 



192 An Act of Confide?ice in God. 

I know, alas ! I know but too well that I am 
weak and unstable; I know the power of temp- 
tation against the strongest virtue. I have seen 
stars fall from heaven, and pillars of the firma- 
ment totter; but these things alarm me not. 
While I hope in Thee I am sheltered from all 
misfortune, and I am sure that my trust shall 
endure, for I rely upon Thee to sustain this 
unfailing hope. Finally, I know that my confi- 
dence cannot exceed Thy bounty, and that I 
shall never receive less than I have hoped for 
from Thee. Therefore I hope that Thou wilt 
sustain me against my evil inclinations; that 
Thou wilt protect me against the most furious 
assaults of the evil one, and that Thou wilt 
cause my weakness to triumph over my most 
powerful enemies. I hope that Thou wilt never 
cease to love me, and that I shall love Thee 
unceasingly. 



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